Performance Evaluation of Groundnut (Arachis hypogea L.) Varieties in Buno Bedele, South Western Oromia, Ethiopia

The objective of this activity is to evaluate, select and recommend the high yielding, adaptable, stable and disease resistant varieties. This activity has been done during the 2023 and 2024 main cropping seasons. A total of six groundnut varieties including local were evaluated using RCBD with three replications. The data on days to 50% flowering, days to 90% maturity, plant height, number of primary branch per plant, number of seed per pod and grain yield were collected and subjected to analysis of variances using R- software. Combined analysis of variance revealed that there was significant difference for all studied traits except of primary branch per plant and number of seeds per pod across the locations. The highest grain yield (1932.9 qt ha1) was recorded by Babile-1 followed by BaHa gudo (1799.8 qt ha-1) while the lowest yield (1206.4 qt ha-1) was recorded by local check. Also the combined ANOVA showed that environments, varieties and their interaction effects were significantly different. The stability and high yielding ability of the varieties has been graphically depicted by the AMMI bi-plot. Environment Dabo Hana-2023 relatively showed high IPCA scores, contributed largely to GEI. This environment was favorable for high yielding varieties based on mean yield as they had more than the grand mean. The variation for seed yield among the varieties for each variety was significant at different environments. Varieties Babile-2 and BaHa gudo were specifically adapted to high yielding environment. Local check variety was the most unstable variety, while Babile-1 was more stable in comparison to other varieties. In GGE bi-plot; IPCA1 and IPCA2 explained 69.99% and 19.69%, respectively, of groundnut variety by environment interaction and made a total of 89.68% of variation. Therefore, Babile1 (1932.9 kg ha-1) and BaHa gudo (1799.8 kg ha-1) were most stable recommended for the study area and similar agro-ecologies and Dabo Hana was the ideal environment for groundnut production.