Participatory Varietal Selection and Agronomic Performance Evaluation of Kik-type Field Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Varieties in Guji Zone, Southern Ethiopia

In the main cropping season of 2021, a field experiment was carried out in the Bore, Dama, and Anna Sora districts of the Guji Zone on stations and farmers' fields. The experiment's goal was to compare agronomic traits with farmer input to evaluate on-farm varieties, choose farmers' favorite varieties, and then recommend the best performing varieties for the Guji Highland field pea production regions. At the Bore Agricultural Research Center, an on-station experiment was conducted utilizing RCBD with three replications. Ten enhanced kinds that were introduced both nationally and regionally were tested and chosen based on their desirable characteristics. From each district, two farmer's fields were used, and the farmer's fields were replicated. Farmers employed a variety of factors in addition to agronomic information, such as days to blooming, plant height, pods per plant, and seed per pod, to evaluate field pea varieties. Growth habits, production performance, disease and insect resistance, marketability, and diet compatibility were the main selection criteria used by farmers. The majority of farmers chose the Burkitu variety, followed by the Bamo variety, based on the selection criteria. The analysis of the agronomic data also showed that the selected varieties for the farmers were chosen for their high yielding and other assessed qualities. Bilalo had the highest seed yield (4167 kg/ha), followed by Bamo (3312 kg/ha), and Adi (3104 kg/ha), according to the results of the combined analysis. Due to its excellent grain output, appealing seed color, large seed size, and overall preferable field performance, the Burkitu variety was chosen. These findings suggested that farmers had a thorough understanding of how to choose and decide on the chosen better varieties in comparison to the inferior types.