Evaluation and Participatory Variety Selection of Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Varieties in Dawro Zone, South Western Region of Ethiopia

Abstract

Farmers in the study area exhibit a unique tendency to choose varieties based on selection criteria rather than tested yields in the district. To ensure farmer participation, a study was conducted on six farmers’ farms, utilizing farmers as replicas in a Randomized Complete Block Design. Ten common bean crop varieties underwent evaluation on these farms to assess varieties in terms of farmer participation and identify priority criteria during the 2019 and 2020 production years. Plot sizes were standardized to 4m plot lengths with inter and intra-spacing of 40cm and 10cm, respectively. The seed and NPSB fertilizer rate were set at 100kg/ha and 122kg/ha, respectively. Significant differences were (P<0.05) were observed among treatments for plant height, days to 50% flowering, days to 90% maturity, and yield over two years. Notably, the common bean varieties Remeda, DAB 96, and SER 119 yielded 1641, 1601, and 1588.7kg/ha, respectively. Additionally, the farmers in the district preferred red-seeded varieties for production and consumption due to superior seed per pod, pod per plant, seed size, seed color, and seed yield. Moreover, these farmers preferred varieties established tolerance to major common bean diseases which were common in the district. Consequently, these high-yielding, farmers preferred, and disease-tolerant varieties are recommended for demonstration and large-scale production in the study regions and agro-ecological zones similar to those the trial was implemented in south western region of Ethiopia.