Abstract
Groundnut is a leguminous seed that contains a lot of oil and protein with high energy content. However, improved varieties were hardly evaluated based on farmers' preference criteria and their participation. Therefore, a participatory variety selection was carried out in Taricha Zuriya district in Dawuro Zone on the mother-baby approach on farmers' fields in the 2019 and 2020 main cropping seasons, aiming at evaluating the performance of groundnut varieties through farmers' participation and assessing their preference criteria. Six released groundnut varieties were tested using a randomized complete block design with four replicates at farmers' fields. The mother trial was done at one model farmer field (all four replications on one field), whereas the baby trials were done at four farmers' fields by considering farmers as replication per village. Combined analysis of variance for two years showed a highly significant (P < 0.001) to significant (P < 0.01) differences among groundnut varieties for grain yield, days to 50 % flowering, days to maturity, seeds per pod, pods per plant, 100 seed weight, except for both stand count at emergence and harvest. Among the tested varieties, BaHajidu (1805.84 kg ha−1) was identified as the best yielding groundnut variety, followed by Bulki-01 (1805.50 kg ha−1) and Werer-963 (1780.0 kg ha−1), respectively, while Werer-962 variety has a lower yield (1536.30 kg ha−1). Bulki-01 (96), BaHajidu (90), and Werer- 963 (76) obtained higher score values as preferred by farmers, whereas lower score values were observed for Manipinter variety (45). The aforementioned varieties Bulki-01, BaHajidu and Werer-963 were also preferred using selection criteria set by farmers as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in rank order respectively. Hence, based on farmers’ preference values and biological data, these three groundnut varieties were recommended for pre-extension demonstration and large-scale production in Dawuro Zone and areas with similar agro-ecologies.
Highlights
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L., 2n = 4x = 40, AABB) is a self-pollinating allotetraploid legume crop belonging to the Fabaceae family (Janila et al, 2013)
Groundnuts are grown on 27.66 million hectares, with a total annual production of 43.98 million tons (FAOSTAT, 2018)
Groundnuts are commonly produced in Ethiopia for food, cash income, and as
Summary
Groundnuts are grown on 27.66 million hectares, with a total annual production of 43.98 million tons (FAOSTAT, 2018). It is mainly an annual self-pollinating legume and the main groundnut-producing countries in the world are India (20.97%), China (16.35%), Nigeria (9.68%), and Sudan (8.37%) (FAOSTAT, 2018). Groundnuts are commonly produced in Ethiopia for food, cash income, and as This high-energy value, protein, and minerals make it an abundant source of nutrients at a low cost. The adoption of this crop is less produced in the Oromia Region, accounting as compared to the nutritive value and for 59.2% of the total national production, maintenance of soil fertility (Ahmed et al, followed by Benishangul-Gumuz (24.83%), 2016). This study was developed to evaluate the performance of groundnut varieties through farmers’ participation and to assess farmers’ selection criteria for the varieties
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