Research Article
Performance Evaluation of Ethiopian Bread Wheat (Triticum
aestivum L.) Genotypes in Southern Ethiopia
Mengistu Meskele Alambo,
1
Mesfin Kebede Gessese ,
2
Eyasu Wada Wachamo ,
1
Belay Yebo Melo ,
2
Zemach Sorsa Lakore,
2
Adera Sisay Wassie,
2
Wondimeneh Taye Haile,
2
and Fentanesh Chekole Kassie
2
1
Wolaita Sodo University, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Department of Biology, P.O. Box 138, Sodo, Ethiopia
2
Wolaita Sodo University, College of Agriculture, Department of Plant Sciences, P.O. Box 138, Sodo, Ethiopia
Correspondence should be addressed to Mesfin Kebede Gessese; mesfin04@yahoo.com
Received 12 August 2021; Revised 27 March 2022; Accepted 5 May 2022; Published 25 May 2022
Academic Editor: G´ abor Kocsy
Copyright © 2022 Mengistu Meskele Alambo et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Ethiopia is not self-sufficient to meet its increasing wheat demand from domestic production partly due to a lack of improved
seeds. Efforts are undertaken to fill the gap through off-season production of wheat using supplemental irrigation and modern
cultivars adapted to arid areas. is study was carried out to evaluate the genetic variability and adaptability of 15 Ethiopian bread
wheat genotypes at different agroecologies in Wolaita and Dawuro zones, Ethiopia. e field experiment was conducted at three
locations using a randomized complete block design with three replications during the 2019/2020 main cropping season. Analysis
of variance based on 11 morphological agronomic traits and two major wheat diseases revealed that there were highly significant
differences (P < 0.01) among the genotypes for all the traits studied at each location and combined over locations. e top three
cultivars viz. Alidoro, Galema, and Honqolo exhibited higher average grain yield (GY) of 4.54 t/ha, 4.36 t/ha, and 4.0 t/ha,
respectively, combined over locations. Eight of the traits (72.73%) exhibited moderate (30–60%) to high broad-sense heritability
(h
2
b
> 60%) values. High h
2
b
associated with high genetic advance as percent of mean was observed for the severity of both stem and
yellow rust diseases combined over locations. GY was significantly related to aboveground biomass at all locations. is study
depicted that cultivar Alidoro had wider adaptability for grain yield and resistance to wheat rusts.
1. Introduction
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is the most widely grown
cereal crop in the world. It is the second major food crop
next to rice [1]. It is widely cultivated for its grain for do
mestic consumption in various recipes and industrial uses
[2–4]. It is the major staple food for 40% of the world’s
population [5]. e global current (2020/2021) wheat uti-
lization was forecasted at about 758 million tons, that is, 1.5
percent higher than in 2018/19, where the increment was
mostly associated with growth in food consumption [6]. To
feed the world’s growing population, the global demand for
wheat yield should increase by 50% in 2050 as estimated by
Allen et al. [7].
China and India are the world’s largest wheat producers,
annually producing 134,340,630 and 98,510,000 tons of
wheat, respectively. Africa’s average wheat production from
2014/15 to 2016/17 was 71.7 million tons, whereas that of
2017/2018 and 2018/2019 cropping seasons was 74.8 and
75.2 million tons, respectively [6]. Ethiopia is the second-
largest wheat producer in Africa with annual production
amounting to approximately 4.54 million tones and an
average grain yield of 2.67 t/ha [8]. e annual average wheat
utilization in Ethiopia in 2016/17, 2017/2018, and 2018/2019
was 5.6, 6.0, and 6.1 million tons, respectively [6], clearly
showing the deficit and need for additional import to meet
the domestic demand. In the Southern Nations Nationalities
People Region (SNNPR) of the country, wheat covered an
Hindawi
Advances in Agriculture
Volume 2022, Article ID 1338082, 13 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/1338082