Performance of Large Seeded Faba Bean Genotypes for Yield and Related Agronomic Traits in Different Parts of Ethiopia

Abstract

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a high value crop in Ethiopia and has versatile uses. The national faba bean breeding program concentrates on the three major traits (grain yield, disease resistance and seed size) of the crop for varietal release for commercial production. Hence, ten faba bean genotypes were evaluated at Adet, Areka, Bekoji, Haramaya, Holetta and Jimma during the main cropping seasons of 2018 and 2019 using a randomized complete block design with four replications with the objectives to select the genotype with best performance in terms of important agronomic traits like grain yield, disease resistance, large seed size and other desirable agronomic traits for high potential production areas in Ethiopia. The combined analysis of variance across locations revealed that there is highly significant (P < 0.01) variation among the tested genotypes for grain yield, 1000-seeds weight, number of pods per plant, and days to 90% physiological maturity. The genotype EH011089-3 showed better performance than the tested genotypes having comparable grain yield performance (3803 kgha-1) with the two standard checks, Numan and Gora (3790 and 3897 kgha-1, respectively) while it had the highest 1000-seeds weight (1065 g) compared to the two standard checks, Numan and Gora (937 g and 786 g, respectively), i.e., 13.7% and 35.5% advantage, over the two standard checks, respectively. Additionally, EH011089-3 had better resistance for chocolate spot and rust diseases. Therefore, EH011089-3 was the best over the tested varieties and breeding lines. Genotype EH011089-3 is recommended for varietal release for commercial production all over in Ethiopia.