Abstract

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The study was conducted to evaluate the response of vicia species to different drainage methods on vertisol in the central highland areas of Ethiopia. The experiment was conducted on a split plot design using three drainage methods (CB, RF and FB) as main plot and five vicia species (V. sativa, V. villosa, V. dasycarpa “Lana”, V. dasycarpa “Namoi” and V. atropurpurea) as sub-plot treatments with three replicates. The combined analysis of variance showed that drainage methods, vicia species, and locations had significant differences (P < 0.05) for mean plant height, DM yield and seed yield. The results revealed that drainage method by year, species by location, location by year and species by year by location interaction effects were significant for at least one of the measured agronomic trait. The CB and RF showed 50.9% and 9.8% increments for plant height when compared with FB, respectively. The DM yield obtained at Ginchi showed 63.3% yield increment when compared with Kuyu due to differential response of the species for temperature, soil fertility and waterlogging problem. The highest DM yield (6.46 t/ha) was recorded for CB followed by RF (4.75 t/ha) and FB (2.89 t/ha). The CB and RF gave 123.5 and 64.4% DM yield increments when compared with FB, respectively. The highest DM yield was recorded for V. villosa (5.76 t/ha) followed by V. dasycarpa “Lana” (5.27 t/ha), V. atropurpurea (5.13 t/ha) and V. dasycarpa “Namoi” (3.89 t/ha) while V. sativa gave the lowest (3.47 t/ha) DM yield under different drainage methods. At Ginchi, 20.7% seed yield increment was recorded when compared with Kuyu indicating that Ginchi was relatively better location for seed production of vicia species under different drainage conditions during the experimental periods. The CB and RF drainage methods gave 151.7 and 80.6% seed yield increments over the FB drainage method, respectively. The result indicated that the highest mean seed yield was recorded for V. atropurpurea (6.08 qt/ha) followed by V. dasycarpa “Lana” (5.71 qt/ha), V. villosa (5.12 qt/ha) and V. sativa (4.83 qt/ha) while V. dasycarpa “Namoi” (3.81 qt/ha) gave the lowest seed yield under different drainage methods. Generally, the selected vicia species respond differently for measured agronomic traits under different drainage methods. Therefore, V. villosa, V. dasycarpa “Lana” and V. atropurpurea showed better performance in terms of plant height, DM yield and seed yield under different drainage methods on vertisol at Kuyu and Ginchi in the central highlands of Ethiopia.

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