Reaction of Elite Faba Bean Genotypes for Soil Acidity Stress

Abstract

Soil acidity is one of the major abiotic stresses in Ethiopian highland agriculture that limits crop production in general and a prime factor of faba bean production in particular. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of soil acidity stress on grain yield of 50 faba bean genotypes of which 22 were released varieties. The experiment was comprised two stress levels (lime treated and untreated) arranged in randomized complete block design with three replications. The analysis of variance for both potential yield (YP) and stress yield (YS) indicated significant differences among fifty genotypes. Also, significant differences were observed among faba bean genotypes regarding seven soil acidity stress indices. Based on the YP, the genotypes Moti, CS20DK, EKLS/CSR02010-4-3, Cool-0024 and EH07023-3, had the highest yield under non-stressed condition, while the genotypes CS20DK, Obse, Wolki, Didi’a and Dosha displayed the highest yield under stressed condition. In terms of grain yield (g/5plants) CS20DK was ranked 2nd and 1st with 113.24g and 79.56g under non-stressed and stressed, respectively. However, based on the overall performances of multiple stress indices (YI, STI, MP, GMP, HM, SSI and RYR) Wolki, Dosha and Obse were confirmed as soil acidity stress tolerant genotypes whereas Wayu was identified as the most sensitive genotype. The STI, MP, GMP and HM indices exhibited strong correlation with YP, while YI showed strong correlation with YS indicating YS can discriminate soil acidity tolerant genotypes with high grain yield under stress conditions. Hence, use of multiple stress indices confirms the performance consistency of the genotypes considered for the stress.