Evaluation and Adaptation Trial of Field Pea Varieties for the Central Ethiopia Region

Background and Objective: Field pea (Pisum sativum L.) is the most important grain legume crop grown Worldwide; it is the major legume grown in Ethiopia. The trial was conducted to evaluate adaptable and high-yielding field pea varieties for central Ethiopia. Materials and Methods: The field experiment was conducted at three locations with eight field pea varieties and a local check by using RCBD design with three replications. Data was collected for date of flowering, plant height, date of maturity, number of seeds per pod, number of seeds per plant, hundred seed weight, and grain yield. Stability analysis and GGE biplot were conducted to identify the uniformly superior and adaptable genotypes across the tested environments. Results: The mean squares of the combined analysis of varieties exhibited significant differences at (p≤0.01) and (p≤0.05) for all parameters except for the number of pods per plant. The S²di value of grain yield showed that three of the varieties significantly differed from zero, indicating the stability of these varieties across different environments. Bunitu, Welmera, and Markos, with the highest grain yield and significantly higher than average performance, had bi ≈ 1 and S²di ≈ 0, indicating the average responsiveness and stability, and thus can be considered as having general adaptability. Conclusion: Therefore, the stability analysis and GGE biplot varieties Bunitu, Welmera, and Markos were stable for the three locations and considered as having general adaptability across locations.