Participatory Variety Selection and Evaluation of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) Varieties in Cheha and Enemorina enner Districts of Southern Ethiopia

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the grain food legumes contributing an enormous amount of protein to the human diet in southern Ethiopia. Participatory variety selection was conducted during 2015–16 and 2017–18 cropping seasons in Cheha and Enemorina-Enner districts using five improved varieties with local variety; laid out grandmother and mother trial Randomized completed Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. At Cheha district, Habru and Natoli, whereas at Enemorina enner district, Arerti varieties gave higher yield as compared to local variety. Arerti variety increased grain yield by 7.88% as compared to local variety at Enemorina enner district and Habru and Natoli increased grain yield by 20.50 and 12.28% respectively as compared with local variety at Cheha district. Habru and Ejere varieties at Cheha district and Arerti and Natoli varieties at Enemorina enner district were selected by the farmers . Therefore, these varieties are recommended to demonstrate with production packages in the study areas and similar agro ecologies.