Yield and Growth Performance of Selected Vetch Species Under Rain-fed Conditions at Three Locations of Dessie Zuria District Amhara Region, Ethiopia
Authors
Abstract
This study was designed to investigate adaptation of five vetch species in terms of their growth and yield performance under rain fed conditions at Dessie Zuria district, South Wollo Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. An experimental trial was conducted using a randomized complete block design with four replications on three locations of Gelisha, Teabsite and Adey in 2021. The collected data were analyzed using SAS Software and means comparison was made using the Tukey method. Data were collected for day to seedling emergence, days to maturity, pods number per plant, branches number per plant, plant height, thousand seed weight, grain yield and biomass yield. Results showed significant differences between locations for days to emerge, days to maturity, plant height, 1000 grains weight and grain yield, Significant differences were observed between species for all the traits (P<0.01, 0.05). The species × location interaction effect was significant for days to seedling emerge (P<0.05). For maturity date, V. dasycarpa and V. villosa with 143.33 and 176.33 days to maturity were as early and late maturing species, respectively. For branches number per plant, the highest and lowest values of 7.84 and 3.83 were obtained in V. dasycarpa and V. villosa, respectively. The higher number of pods per plant was obtained in V. benghalensis. The highest numbers of seeds per pod and thousand seeds weight were recorded in V. dasycarpa. For plant height, the higher and lower values of 147.57 and 104.25 cm were obtained in V. dasycarpa and V. benghalensis, respectively. The grain yield ranged from 565 and 294 kg/ha. The herbage yield ranged from 17.49 to 31.39 t/ha. In comparison between locations, the higher values of all traits were obtained in Gelisha. Based on yield and growth performance, the species of V. kohak and V. dasycarpa were recommended for cultivation in Dessie Zuria district.
