Selection and Registration of New Bread Wheat Variety Abay for Low to Mid-Altitude Wheat-Producing Areas of Ethiopia

Abstract

Wheat production in Ethiopia in the year 2020 was around 5.1 million metric tons (World data Atlas, 2021). Although the country has the potential optimum environment for wheat production, the deficit between wheat grain production and national demand is about 1.7 million tons of wheat per annum. It is about 25% of total consumption. That is mainly due to biotic and abiotic stress threatened production results in low productivity. Wheat rust fungal pathogens are among the production constraints in Ethiopia. The national wheat research program objectively works on the development and release of resistance bread wheat variety for wheat rusts with high grain yield and good quality. In 2018 and 2019, twenty-three advanced genotypes and two checks; as a whole twenty-five entries, set as Bread Wheat National Variety Trial for Moisture Stress Areas set one (BWNVTMSAI) by the National Wheat Research Program and evaluated across different locations. The experiment was conducted in a square lattice design with three replications by the program. The experimental unit had 2.5 m length by 1.2m width was used for this trial with an area of 3m². In 2020 two promising bread wheat candidates, ETBW9396 and ETBW9080, those selected from the National Variety Trial, One standard check Daka, and one local check Kakaba, a total of four materials tested as a Variety Verification Trial (VVT) with no design and replication across four locations. Results showed about twelve genotypes have a greater than 5% grain yield advantage over the best check, Deka (Table 2). ETBW9080, ETBW9172, and ETBW9396 showed better performance for wheat rust disease (Table 3). The National Wheat Research Program selected and proposed ETBW9080 and ETBW9396 as candidate varieties. The National Variety Releasing Committee (NVRC) met its first round at Adiss Ababa in the Ministry of Agriculture in June 2021. The standing committee decided to release ETBW9636. Then. ETBW9636 registered as a new bread wheat variety in 2021 in Ethiopia. Replacement of susceptible bread wheat varieties and availing more alternatives bread wheat varieties to grow for resource-poor farmers is very crucial in the region.