Sky Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 5(2), pp. 034 - 041, February, 2016 Available online http://www.skyjournals.org/SJAR ISSN 2315-8751 ©2016 Sky Journals Full Length Research Paper Performance evaluation of released and farmers’ potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) varieties in eastern Ethiopia Berhanu Bilate 1 and Tewodros Mulualem 2* 1 Worabe Agricultural Research Center, P.O. Box 21, Worabea, Ethiopia. 2 Jimma Agricultural Research Center, P. O. Box 192, Jimma, Ethiopia. Accepted 26 December, 2015 A study was conducted at Hirna and Alemaya during 2013 main cropping season. The objective of the study to evaluate the performance of recently released and farmers’ potato varieties in eastern Ethiopia. The experimental materials included 16 different varieties of potatowere released by different research centers and Haramaya Universitypotato breeding program for different agro-ecologies of Ethiopia and two dominant farmer’s varieties from the study areas was used. The experiment was laid out as a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The results of the study revealed that, the highest leaf area index was recorded for variety Gera (5.25) at Hirnawhile the lowest registered for Bete (1.76) at Haramaya. Marachere (20.47) at Haramaya, Zemen (15.67), Bule (7.73) and Gera (56.85t/ha) all at Hirna, produced highest total tuber number per hill, marketable, unmarketable tubers number per hill and highest total tuber yield per hectare, respectively whereas Moti (6.93),Moti (5.73),Gera (0.53)all at Haramaya and Jarso (17.37) at Hirna produced the lowest total tuber number per hill, marketable, unmarketable tubers number per hill and highest total tuber yield per hectare, respectively. The highest marketable and unmarketable tuber yield ton/ha was recorded for Gera (53.97) and Bule (5.91) both grown at Hirna, respectively,while Jarso(14.09)at Hirna and Zemen (0.3) at Haramaya produced the lowest marketable and unmarketable tuber yield tons/ha, respectively. Marachare (10.13) at Haramaya, Jalenie (6.8) and Gera (8.87) both at Hirna produced the highest small, medium and large sized tuber number per hill, respectively. Gera (1.47), Moti (2.07) both grown at Hirna and Jarso(1) at Haramaya produced the lowest small, medium and large sized tuber number per hill, respectively. The results also revealed that it is an evident that the presence of considerable variations for tuber yield and yield component among varieties and between locations as well as the interaction effect of variety by location significantly influenced most of the studied trait especially for yield character which is considered as the most important economic character. Based on the result of this study under both locations, relatively high yielding potato varieties released by different research institutes than Haramaya University released varieties for eastern Ethiopia in terms of yield and hence, warrant for more location and year evaluation of varieties. Key words: Farmers, performance, potato, varieties, tubers. INTRODUCTION Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an important tuber crop grown widely in humid tropics and used as source of carbohydrates for many people in tropical and sub- tropical areas of the world (Crissman et al., 1993). According to FAO, potato is a staple food for more than 600 million people who live in sub-Saharan Africa. The crop particularly has potential for fertile and waste land where other crops could not survived, to help overcome food shortage (Gebremedhin et al., 2013). It is primarily *Corresponding author. E-mail: tewodrosmulualem@gmail.com. grown for its starchy tuberous root; its flour can be produced for soup, biscuits, bread, and chips. The leaves used as animal feed in the developing countries. In Ethiopia, potato production could fill the gap in food supply during the hungry months of July to August before the grain crops are being harvested. Potato in Ethiopia is currently planted in around 164,146 ha producing an estimated total tuber yield of 940,087 tons (CSA, 2002). This implies that average yield in the country reaches only 7 t/ha when the potential for small holder is around 25 t/ha. There are many factors that can contribute directly or indirectly for low yield in Ethiopia, lack of