Abstract
In Ethiopia, feed is the major production inputs that affect the production and productivity of animal. In this regard, One of the possible option to alleviate feed shortage is introduction and utilization of improved forage crops for the given production system. The study was conducted on 11 oat varieties during 2017 and 2018 main cropping season at Masha highland of south-western Ethiopia to evaluate their adaptability and identify high dry matter yield and good nutritional quality producing oat varieties for highland agro-ecological areas of south-west Ethiopia. The experiment was conducted using randomized complete block design replicated three times. Data were taken for days to 50% flowering, plant height, leaf to stem ratio, dry matter yield, grain yield and their nutritional contents. The data were analyzed using the general linear model procedures of SAS and the least significance difference was used for mean separation. The result of the combined analysis indicated that most of the agronomic traits were significantly (p<0.01) affected by varieties. The mean leaf to stem ratio of 79AB3849Tx) (80SA95) had the highest value (1.5) followed by PI-1706 (1.4). The tested oat varieties show significantly (p<0.01) different among varieties in their dry matter yield. Among the evaluated oat varieties, PI-1706 gave the highest dry matter yield (12.7 ton/ha) followed by 79AB3849Tx) (80SA9) (12.0 ton/ha) whereas Clintland60MN16016 gave the lowest (5.4 ton/ha) dry matter yield. The result of grain yield of these two varieties were consistent with dry matter yield. Based on the chemical compositions, PI-1706, KY7078394Canada and 79AB3849Tx) (80SA95) were the best varieties in their crude protein contents. Thus, from the results of the present study it can be concluded that PI-1706, 79AB3849Tx) (80SA95) and KY7078394Canada were best adapted and high yielder oat varieties and can be demonstrated on farm condition for wider use in the highlands of Bench-maji and Masha areas and in similar agro-ecological zones of south-western Ethiopia.
Highlights
Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa [1] with estimated 57.83 million cattle, 28 million sheep, 28.6 million goat, 1.23 million camels, 60.5million poultry, 2.1 million horses, 0.4 million mules and 7.88 million donkeys
Except for grain yield year by variety interaction had no significant (P>0.05) effect on days to 50% flowering, plant height leaf to stem ratio and dry matter yield and this suggests an identical reaction to the environmental conditions
Study done by Beyene et al (2015) agreed that varieties has an effect on, plant height, dry matter yield and grain yield
Summary
Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa [1] with estimated 57.83 million cattle, 28 million sheep, 28.6 million goat, 1.23 million camels, 60.5million poultry, 2.1 million horses, 0.4 million mules and 7.88 million donkeys. The production and productivity is low due to many factors among, feed is the major production inputs that affect the production and productivity of animal. In many parts of Ethiopia, animals are kept on poor quality natural pasture and crop residues [2]. The contribution of natural pasture was declining from time to time as a result of the expansion of crop production, poor management and seasonal availability [3, 4]. One of the possible option to alleviate feed shortage is introduction and utilization of improved forage crops for the given production system. Improved forage crops species are very important because of their high biomass yield and good nutritional value
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