Adaptation and Performance on Yield and Yield Components of Field Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Varieties at Adiyo District, Southwestern Ethiopia

Field pea (Pisum sativum L.) is one of the most important high land pulse mainly used for human consumption in Ethiopia. It is considered as the least expensive source of protein and income for the poor farmers. Its production is constrained by low yielding potential of farmers’ varieties that are widely grown in the region. The Ethiopian research system has so far developed over 15 improved varieties. However, the available varieties have not been exposed to farmers and, therefore, there is no information which of the released varieties best fits the existing cropping system in field production niches of the region. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted at Alarigeta testing site of Adiyo distric in Kaffa zone for two years (2012 and 2013) main cropping season to identify and select best performing, high yielding field pea varieties for highland ecologies of Adiyo. Ten improved field pea varieties and one local check were tested by using RCB Design with three replications. The combined analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant (p<0.05) difference among varieties for all the parameters studied. The varieties Burkitu, Gume, Markos, Letu, URJI, Adi, Megeri and Weyyitu were found to be high yielding with their mean yield of 4169.0, 4052.2, 4019.0, 3918.5, 3765.4, 3756.4, 3629.0, and 3609.7 kg ha-1, respectively. However, based on the objectively measured traits coupled with market related characters and farmers preferences, Burkitu, Gume and Markos were selected as best varieties and recommended for future use in the study area and similar agro ecologies. Keywords: Grain yield; Adaptation; farmers’ preferenc