Adaptation Trials of Cassava Varieties at Semi-arid of Borana Zone, Southern Ethiopia

The study took place at onstation of Yabello Pastoral and Dryland Agriculture Research Center at long rainy-season Onset.. Its goal was to see how different cassava varieties adapt and to measure their above- and below-ground biomass yields. Four cassava varieties stem cut at 25-30 cm were collected as evaluated adaptation trials. These varieties are Chichu, Hawassa 4, Qulle and Kello varieties were taken from Sidama region of southern Ethiopia. The stems were planted at 1 m spacing, between plants and rows by using a RCBD. Each row had five plants and totaly twenty stems were planted per plot. Collected data were analyzed by SAS software, and used LSD to compare means at a significance level of p≤0.05. Of evaluated cassava trials chichu variety had the lagest leaves and tuber drymatter yields by 39 kg/ha and 0.323 t/ha respectively and and followed by Qulle and Hawassa 4 varieties. In terms of foilage canopy diameters, tubers lengths and vertical growth (height) measurements, chichu variety had the largest values than evaluated cassava varieties while Hawassa 4 was the lowest.. Therefore, chichu variety was selected in pramarly and followed by Qulle and Hawassa varieties as options for demonestion at pastoral and agropastoral of Borana rangeland areas for both human consumtion and animal forage purposes.