Journal of Plant Sciences 2021; 9(2): 32-37 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/jps doi: 10.11648/j.jps.20210902.11 ISSN: 2331-0723 (Print); ISSN: 2331-0731 (Online) Effect of Weeding Frequency on Yield an Yield Components of Food Barley (Horduem vulgare L.) Varieties at Amuru District, Horo Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia Dessalegn Ayana 1 , Habtamu Ashagre 2 , Ibrahim Hamza 3 1 Department of Plant Science, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Assosa University, Assoas, Ethiopia 2 Department of Plant Sciences, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, Ambo University, Ambo, Ethiopa 3 School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria Email address: To cite this article: Dessalegn Ayana, Habtamu Ashagre, Ibrahim Hamza. Effect of Weeding Frequency on Yield an Yield Components of Food Barley (Horduem vulgare L.) Varieties at Amuru District, Horo Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia. Journal of Plant Sciences. Vol. 9, No. 2, 2021, pp. 32-37. doi: 10.11648/j.jps.20210902.11 Received: November 30, 2020; Accepted: January 12, 2021; Published: April 16, 2021 Abstract: An experiment was conducted to identify better performing food barley cultivar at Amuru District of Horo Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia National Regional State of Ethiopia in 2016 main cropping season. The experiment was laid down in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatments were factorial combination of four weeding frequencies (weedy check, one time weeding, two times weeding and three times weeding) and five food barley cultivars (HB-1307, CROSS 41/98, GOBE, EH1493 and Local). Yield and yield components of barley including spike length, thousand kernel weight, grain yield and biological yield were significantly influenced by main effect of variety and weeding frequency. However, number of productive tillers, kernels per spike, and harvest index were significantly influenced by interaction effect of variety and weeding frequency. HB-1307 variety gave significantly higher grain yield (1292 kgha -1 ) than the other four barley cultivars. Three times weeded treatment gave significantly higher grain yield (1422kgha -1 ) followed by two times weeded (1000kgha -1 ), one times weeded (644 kgha -1 ) and weedy check (511kgha -1 ). Three times weeding of barley is the optimal weeding frequency and use of HB-1307 variety is better to increases grain yield in the area. However, need to be developing site specific varieties to the study area as the yield of improved varieties less performed. Keywords: Food Barley, Weed, Weeding Frequency, Yield, Yield Components 1. Introduction Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the most important cereal crop in Etioppia. The crop has importance in the national diets of Ethiopia. In spite of the importance of barley as a food and malting crop, and the efforts made so far to generate improved production technologies, its productivity in production field has remained very low (1.3 tha -1 compared with the world average of 2.4 tha -1) [1]. Research in different part of the world has shown that yields of 10tha -1 can be obtained under intensive management [2]. However, the cause for low productivity in Ethiopia is attributed to abiotic stress include low soil fertility, low soil pH poor soil drainage, frost, and drought. As well as important biotic stresses are includes weed, diseases such as scald, net blotch, spot blotch, and rusts and insect pests such as aphids, and barley shoot fly [3]. Moreover, the level of adoption of improved barley production technologies by farmers is low, which is associated mainly with their minimal participation during the research process. Barley is one of the commonly grown food security crops in higher altitude areas of Ethiopia. It is also the most important crop in Horo Guduru Wollega Zone, Oromia National Regional State. The total number of households cultivating barley in Horo Guduru Wollega Zone is estimated to be 32,305, while, the number of households cultivating barley in Amuru district is estimated to be 6852. The total barley coverage in the district is estimated to be 4234 ha, and its productivity is half of the national average yield. Barley is a crop plant which is very sensitive to weed