Adaptability Evaluation of White Fleshed Sweet Potato Variety Trial at Silte and Gurage Zones, Ethiopia

Background and Objective: Sweet potato is an important food security crop for millions of people in Africa. The present study was conducted to select white-fleshed sweet potato varieties in terms of their growth parameters and adaptability. Materials and Methods: The adaptability evaluation was conducted in the Sankurra District (in Silte Zone) and Meskan District (in Gurage Zone). The experiment was conducted using five white-fleshed sweet potato varieties laid out in RCBD with three replications. Data were collected on the number of branches per plant, number of leaves per plant, vine length, root fresh weight and root dry matter content. Results: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) revealed that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) for the number of leaves per plant among tested varieties and varieties*across environments and a highly significant (p<0.01) for fresh root weight yield while, a non-significant difference among tested varieties for the remaining parameters. Conclusion: Based on the mean values, varieties Adu was the first and Hawassa-83 the second by root fresh weight yield whereas, the least yielder was Barkume. Therefore, in the future, it is essential to demonstrate those selected varieties to farmers for production in the study area after participatory evaluation through pre-extension and demonstrations.