The MET Analysis of Yield Performance of Advanced Sorghum [<i>Sorghum Bicolor</i>(L.) Moench] Lines under Moisture Stress Areas Using Spatial Analysis

Sorghum is one of the most widely cultivated cereal crops in Ethiopia which is grown for food and feed uses. It’s far an indigenous crop that’s grown in incredibly diverse environments of getting diverse water strain, soil fertility, and temperature situations. Trait of sorghum varieties tolerant to drought and producing desirable grain yield at the same time as addressing the biomass requirement is one of the techniques within the sorghum breeding program to the dry lowland surroundings so one can feed the growing population in Ethiopia. A total of 126 superior early maturing sorghum elite lines had been evaluated through along with recently released popular trendy check Melkam and Argiti to estimate the grain yield and stability of overall performance throughout the testing environments. Based on the overall performance of grain yield, flowering time, plant height, and the stability of grain yield genotype ETSC14501-2-2 and 14MWLSDT7196 become top ranked followed by genotype 14MWLSDT7176, 14MWLSDT7241 and 13MWF6#6037 which could be a capability candidate for production to the target environments. The varieties had better grain yield performance and stability across the environment, which may be used as capacity parental lines for genetic improvement in the sorghum improvement program. Finally based on the presented result on early maturing variety ETSC14501-2-2 with the pedigree of Redswazi/Meko-1 identified and registered for variety verification across locations on stations and on farms to confirm the stability and preference by farmers with their own farming practices.

Distinguishing of Stable Genotypes and Mega Environment for Grain Yield Performance of Sorghum [<i>Sorghum bicolor</i>(L.) Moench] Genotypes Using Spatial Analysis

Sorghum is a staple food crop in Ethiopia and its production is mainly constrained by drought, other environmental factors, and the use of low-yielding, local sorghum varieties. To improve sorghum productivity, it is crucial to provide farmers with high yielding, stable sorghum cultivars that are tolerant to drought and other constraints. The stable performance of sorghum varieties in a growing region is critical to obtain a high and stable yield. In the 2012-2014 crop year, 24 genotypes, including standard controls, were evaluated at the national variety trial stage over six main dry lowland sorghum growing sites and two years made 7 environments to evaluate their performance, stability and to quantify Genotype by Environment Interaction (GEI) across moisture stress sorghum growing areas of Ethiopia. Spatial modeling has been used to estimate predicted mean (BLUPs) results and Performance and estimation of environmental correlation, heritability, GEI, and other parameters using the ASReml3-R analysis package. The predicted mean yield of the test genotypes across the environment ranged from 3.45 to 1.56 t·ha-1. Based on the result genotype G13, it could be further promoted because of its yield advantage and other important attributes over the standard checks, but it is the least stable. Based on the analyzed result, two mega environments were formed and Environment 1 (E1) is identified as an ideal environment among the testing environments.

Combining Ability and Heterosis of Sorghum (<i>Sorghum bicolor</i>L. Moench) Hybrids for Grain and Biomass Yield

This study was carried out to estimate the magnitude of heterosis and combining abilities (general & specific) for forage and over all grain yield performance of sorghum hybrids. Even though, information on heterotic performance and combining ability of Ethiopian elite sorghum lines for biomass, yield, and overall performance is too insufficient, there is ample amount of sorghum elite lines developed through pedigree breeding. The result of ANOVA found out that mean squares had to indicate a considerable amount of variability among the tested genotypes for most traits. Parents and hybrids are drastically unique for all traits besides thousand-grain weight, number of green leaves, and panicle width. This found out that hybrids have a higher yield than Open pollinated types (OPVs) parents. Hybrids, 106 × 94 (123.5%), 106 × 87 (80.4%), 106 × 78 (72.5%), 107 × 92 (74.5%) 107 × 99 (56.9%), and 107 × 104 (60.8%) have been discovered maximum heterotic hybrids for yield in comparison to check. The estimations of parental GCA effects confirmed that female 106 and males 79, 96, 94, and 81 had been excellent general combiners for biomass, yield and associated traits. Primarily based on perse overall performance, heterotic response, and combining ability, female parent 106 and male parents 94, 102, and 90 were observed maximum performed. Those parental lines could be used for hybrid and germplasm improvement.

Genotype-by-Environment Interaction and Yield Stability Analysis in Finger Millet (<i>Elucine coracana</i>L. Gaertn) in Ethiopia

Finger millet is one of the most neglected and underutilized crops worldwide, yet an important food cereal for millions of poor farmers in Africa. An experiment was carried out to determine adaptation range of diverse set of finger millet accessions and identify superior types with excellent yield potential for use as cultivar or as germplasm source for future breeding endeavors. A total of 44 indigenous accessions selected in previous evaluations and two check varieties were tested in two sets (mixed and colored) each containing 22 entries in a total of 11 environments between 2004 and 2008 seasons. Data were collected on grain yield, days to flowering, and plant height. The result showed that 2.5%, 79.1% and 18.3% of the total sum of squares in the mixed set and 2.1%, 86.9% and 11.0% in the colored set was attributed to genotype, environment, and genotype × environment interaction (GEI) effects, respectively. Furthermore, 54.6% and 46.19% of the GEI sum of squares in the mixed and in the colored set, respectively, were contributed by the first two interaction principal component axes (IPCA1 and IPCA2). A white seed accession (Acc. 203572) from the mixed set and three other accessions (Acc. 229469, Acc. 203410 and Acc. 203539) from the colored set were most stable and also had above average mean grain yield across environment and thus are recommended for release as cultivars to improve finger millet production in these environments.