Participatory Demonstration and Evaliation of Food Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) varieties at Adami Tulu Jido kombolcha district, Central rift valley of Oromia, Ethiopia

Two improved food barley varieties (Gobe and Bentu) were demonstrated along with local check as a follow up of participatory variety selection activity. The objectives were to demonstrate and evaluate the performance of the varieties along with their management practices under farmers’ circumstances and to raise farmers’ knowledge and skill on food barley production and management practices. Sites were selected in collaboration with respective district agricultural offi ces. Trainings were given for farmers, Development Agents and experts and other stakeholders. The Participating farmers were also capacitated through follow up exchange visits and fi eld days. Recommended seed and fertilizer rate were used for the demonstration trial establishment. According to the results, there was no statistically signifi cant yield difference between the varieties at (p<0.05). However, both Gobe and Bentu varieties have shown higher yield advantage over local variety showing a yield advantage of 62% and 11.5% over the local variety respectively. Research Article Participatory Demonstration and Evaliation of Food Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) varieties at Adami Tulu Jido kombolcha district, Central rift valley of Oromia, Ethiopia Tesfaye Gemechu*, Fiseha Tadesse and Hikma Sultan Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia Received: 29 September, 2020 Accepted: 29 October, 2020 Published: 30 October, 2020 *Corresponding author: Tesfaye Gemechu, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia, E-mail:


Introduction
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the most important cereal crops in the world. It is widely grown fourth cereal and among top ten crop plants in the world [1]. In Ethiopian context barley is staple food grain. It's especially a major food crop across the Highlands of Ethiopia, where it is grown by approximately 4.1 million smallholder farmers on close to one million hectares [2]. Ethiopia is ranked twenty-fi rst in the world in barley production with a share of 1.2 percent of the world's total production [3] with a national average production of 1.43t/ha [4]. Both malt and food barley are produced in Ethiopia. Barley is the fi fth most important crop after teff, maize, sorghum and wheat [2]. Generally, traditionally it is used in different forms such as bread, porridge, soup, and roasted grain and for preparing alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Its straw is also used for animal feed, hatch roofs and beddings.
Although barley is considered a highland crop, it is also grown in marginal and low rainfall areas of the country including the rift valley [5,6]. However, the availability and distribution of rainfall is the major limiting factor for yield in these areas. Thus, farmers in such areas use their own landraces or local varieties that are adaptable but with poor yield ability. Studies also report that critical shortage of improved barley varieties adapted to low-moisture conditions is a major problem; and hence, farmers are forced to grow low yielding varieties [6].
In central rift valley areas of Oromia, Ethiopia, barley is one of the crops under production next to maize, wheat and haricot bean. However, its production and productivity has been affected by different constraints apart from rainfall availability. Some of the constraints include limited knowledge about barley production and unavailability or lack of improved varieties. Studies also point out that barleys mediocre productivity in such areas is primarily due to the use of low yielding local cultivars in the productive system of biotic and abiotic factors and the minimal use of improved barley production technologies [7].
Despite the constraints there are opportunities for barley production and improving its productivity in such areas. The national agricultural research system of the country have also released different varieties of barley for stress areas though not yet well adopted by farmers.
Basing this opportunity and to alleviate the problem of the dominance of maize in the dry land production system a project with an objective of introducing non-traditional crops in dry land Agricultural Production System using participatory variety selections(PVS) was conducted by Adami Tulu Agricultural Research center in the past years. One of the crops included in the PVS was barley. The PVS has tested four barley varieties namely Gobe, Bentu, Diribie and HB1307. HB1307 was late maturing and highland barley but it is used as a check and also to try out its wider adaptability. From the study, though experiment was affected by severe shortage of rainfall caused by El Nino effect, promising results were found. In addition, with all the challenges, farmers have shown great interest in barley production and on the varieties tried.
Among the tested varieties Gobe variety was found outstanding followed by Bentu and Dirbie for its high grain yield. The late maturing variety HB-1307 was found low yielding as compared to all varieties. Gobe showed relative yield advantage of 32%, 49% and 85% over Bentu, Dirbie and HB-1307, respectively while Bentu showed 12% over Dirbie and 29% over HB-1307.
The study also tried to see farmers' preferences among the tried varieties using matrix ranking. The ranking was done in such a way that farmers were let to rank preferred characteristics they look for in barley varieties fi rst. After ranking the characteristics, the farmers then selected the tried varieties.
Accordingly, farmers ranked yield, seed per spike and early maturity respectively as major characteristics they want barley varieties to possess. Based on these characteristics farmers then selected Gobe and Bentu varieties, respectively. Therefore, this study was proposed with an objective of demonstrating these farmers preferred and better performing varieties

Description of the study area
The study was conducted at Adami Tulu Jiddo Kombolcha (ATJK) district of East shoa zone, Oromia, Ethiopia where previous participatory variety selection of barley varieties was done. ATJK district is one of the districts in central rift valley of Oromia, Ethiopia. Most of the district ranges at an altitude from 1500 to 2300 meters above sea level; Mount Aluto is the highest point. Rivers found in the district include the Bulbula, Jido, Hora Kalio and Gogessa. A survey of the land in this district shows that 27.2% is arable or cultivable, 21.6% pasture, 9.9% forest, 15.7% swampy and the remaining 25.6% is considered as degraded or otherwise unusable (https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adami_Tullu_and_Jido_Kombolcha ). The crops produced in the area are mainly maize, haricot bean, wheat, teff and barley.

Site and farmers selection
The trial was conducted in two kebele's where the previous PVS was conducted. Trail farmers were selected in collaboration with Development agents. Farmers' Research Group (FRG) approach was followed to select and organize farmers. One group per Kevele consisting of 15 farmers was organized considering gender. From each FRG 3 trial farmers were then selected for the trial establishment; taking into consideration their interest to provide a land, previous production history of the crop, interest to involve in group and share his/her experiences.

Planting material
Two adaptable early maturing barley varieties (Gobe and Bentu) were used for the demonstration compared with local variety that farmers were using. Planting material (Seed) was prepared in advance before the rainy season. Before planting germination test was conducted and the three varieties had similarity in their germination percentages which is greater than 95%.

Experimental design and procedures
The experiment was conducted on two Kebele's of Adami Tulu Jido Kombolcha district. The demonstration fi elds were laid out on six farmer's fi eld in both Kebeles, each having three trial farmers. Two barley varieties were demonstrated side by side along with one local check. The experimental fi eld for each variety including the check was 10 X10m 2 . Farmers were used as replication. Land was prepared by farmer using oxen plow. Seeds were sown at the recommended rate of 85 kgha -1 in rows (20cm between rows). Fertilizer rate of NPS 100kg/ha was used. Plots were kept free of weeds using hand weeding to produce a successful barley crop.

Capacity development
After group formation, different capacity development activities were undertaken. Training was given for the groups of farmers, DAs and SMS to improve their level of knowledge about barley production. Field visits were conducted for farmers to observe each other's fi eld and understand the difference between their management.

Data collected
Grain yield, costs involved and income gained were

Data analysis
The collected agronomic and fi nancial data were also analyzed using SPSS and presented using table. Yield advantage of the improved varieties over local check was also calculated using the following formula and presented using table.

Yield advantage of the two demonstrated food barley varieties over the local
The following table shows the yield advantage of the demonstrated Gobe and Bentu food barley varieties over the local barley variety. The yield advantage was calculated using the following formula.
yield of improved variety -yield of local variety Yield advantage% X 100 Yield of local variety  Accordingly, the yield advantage calculations show that Gobe and Bentu varieties have 62 and 11.5% yield advantage over the local variety, respectively Table 3.
In terms of profi tability the fi nancial analysis result show that an average return of 14,408.8 and 10,479.00 ETB per hectare can be gained by using Gobe and Bentu varieties, respectively. Whereas an average return of 9,107.00 can be obtained by using the local variety in one production season in the study areas Table 4.  The following table describes who were the   participants and presented in gender disaggregated form Table   5.

Conclusion and recommendation
As a follow-up of participatory variety selection (PVS) activity, the results indicated that both varieties demonstrated

Varieties Yield advantage (%)
Gobe over local 62% Bentu over local 11.5% gave promising yield. They were also found to be profi table and had an extra yield advantage over the local variety. However, there is a lot to be improved in making this varieties feasible to the farming communities by decreasing the gap between demonstration yield and potential yield of the varieties.
Therefore, the research system has to work on releasing more adaptable moisture stress food barley varieties. Yet, until new varieties are made available basing farmers' feed backs and the extra yield advantage of the varieties over the local one Gobe is recommended for further scaling up. Yet, Bentu is also an additional variety which can be used for further scaling up activities.