Productivity and Grain quality of Holker, Ibon and Franka malt barley (hordeum vulgare l.) varieties to the rate of nitrogen fertilizer at central highland of Arsi, Ethiopia

Abstract

A field experiment were conducted during the 2018 cropping season at central highlands of Ethiopia to determine grain quality and yield response of malt barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) varieties to different rate of nitrogen fertilizer. The experiment was laid in a split plot design; Nitrogen rate as main plot and varieties as subplot with three replications. Phonological traits, Grain quality parameters and yield were taken as experimental variables and analyzed using SAS software. The result showed that grain yield, thousand kernel weight and hectoliter weight were significantly affected by interaction of Nitrogen and varieties. However, days to heading, days to maturity, plant height, number of productive tillers, straw yield and number of grain per spike were significantly affected by both N and varieties. On the other hand days to emergence, spike length and harvest index was not significantly affected by N and varieties. The higher (2.705 t ha-1) grain yield was recorded from the combination of Ibon variety with 57.5 kg N ha-1. Therefore, application of 57.5 kg N ha-1 fertilizer rates and Holker variety and 57.5 kg N ha-1 and Ibon variety were found to be better in terms of agronomic for malt barley production at central highland of Arsi, Ethiopia.