Vol. 14(32), pp. 1544-1552, September, 2019 DOI: 10.5897/AJAR2019.14032 Article Number: 8463F6261871 ISSN: 1991-637X Copyright ©2019 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/AJAR African Journal of Agricultural Research Full Length Research Paper Grain quality and nitrogen use efficiency of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties in response to nitrogen fertilizer in Arsi highlands, southeastern Ethiopia Dereje Dobocha 1 , Girma Abera 2* and Wegayehu Worku 3 1 Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Ethiopia. 2 School of Plant and Horticulture Science, College of Agriculture, Hawassa University, Ethiopia. Received 15 March, 2019; Accepted 16 May, 2019 Field experiments were conducted in 2017/18 cropping season at Kulumsa Research Center Farm (OnS) and on farmer’s (OnF) field to assess the effect of N fertilizer rates on grain quality and NUE of bread wheat (Lemu and Wane) varieties. Factorial combinations of Lemu and Wane varieties and five N rates (0, 46, 92,138 and 184 kg N ha -1 ) were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results showed that Lemu variety had higher values of hectoliter weight and grain protein content (GPC) at both sites, while Wane variety exhibited greater values for dry and wet gluten content. Average GPC was 11% at OnF, while it was 14% at OnS. Grain and straw N uptake increased with increasing N rates, although increments were inconsistent. The NHI was highest when N was applied at 46 and 92 kg N ha -1 at OnF and OnS, respectively. The GPC was improved by 12 and 15.1% when 138 and 184 kg N ha -1 applied at OnF and OnS, respectively. The highest wheat agronomic and physiological efficiencies were recorded when 46 kg N ha -1 was applied in both sites. In nutshell, we recommend 46-92 kg N ha -1 for bread wheat production based on better grain quality, NUE and NHI in the highlands of Arsi, southeastern Ethiopia. Key words: Bread wheat varieties, grain quality, nitrogen use efficiency, nitrogen uptake. INTRODUCTION Wheat is one of the most important staple food crops that provides around 20% of protein and calories consumed worldwide (FAOSTAT, 2015). In terms of caloric intake, it is the second most important food crop in Ethiopia next to maize (FAO, 2014). It has great nutritional value and contains 60-90% starch, 11-16.5% protein, 1.5-2% fat and 1.2-2% inorganic ions and vitamins (Anonymous, 2012). Traditionally, wheat is used for making diverse *Corresponding author. E-mail: girmajibat2006@yahoo.com. Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License