Registration of New Bread Wheat Variety (Gutu) for Mid to Highland Altitude Wheat Producing Areas of Ethiopia

Abstract

Wheat, a staple crop in Ethiopia, is constrained by biotic and abiotic stresses. Despite efforts to develop high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties, most have short agronomic life spans due to mainly yellow rust and stem rust diseases.  Therefore, continuous breeding and selection are needed to identify new varieties with high yield potential, resistance to major wheat diseases, and adaptability to different climatic conditions. Thirty advanced bread wheat lines together with standard and local checks were evaluated using row-to-column design in three replications at six and nine locations during the 2021 and 2022 main seasons, respectively. Data such as days to maturity, plant height, yield, TKW, and test weight were taken. The yield data were exposed to statistical analysis. The new variety, EBW192345 (Kenya sunbird/2*Kachu/3/SWSR22T.B/2* Blouk#1//Wbll1*2/Kuruku) outyielded the standard check (Boru) and local check (Dandaá) by 25.43% and 51.9%, respectively.  The new variety not only outyielded the checks, but it exhibited better resistance to yellow and stem rust diseases and had better performances in 1000 Kernel weight and test weight compared to the other treatments including the checks. Based on two years of multi-location data and performances on research plots and farmers’ fields, EBW192345 was released by the national variety release committee for commercial production in mid to highlands in Ethiopia during 2023.