Abstract

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Hot pepper is a widely grown vegetable, spice and condiment crop in Ethiopia, whose fruits are consumed as fresh, dried or processed products. It is also a major cash crop with high domestic- and export value. The use of unimproved local varieties of low quality and productivity, and soil borne and foliar diseases caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses are among several constraints the production system for green and dry pod confronted with. Field experiments were carried out to evaluate dynamics of growth, resistance /tolerance to disease and yielding potential of hot pepper varieties at Fogera Agricultural Research Center during the rainy seasons of 2014 and 2015. Five varieties namely, Markofana, Melkazala, Melkaawaze, Melkashote and a local check were laid in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The interaction between year and variety was found insignificant, where as varieties performed significantly different (p < 0.05) for most parameters considered in the study. The result revealed that varieties Melkazala and Melkaawaze were the most tolerant /resistant to disease attack with significantly (p < 0.05) high green pod yield of 13.00 and 14.53 ton per hectare, respectively. Besides promoting both Melkaawaze and Melkazala varieties for wide spread production in Fogera and other areas with similar agro-ecological conditions, the latter could also be used in breeding programs to transfer useful traits such as disease tolerance /resistance.

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