Evaluation of the Performance of Improved Potato (Solanum Tubersom L) Varieties for Mid Altitude Areas of Southern Ethiopia

The experiment was conducted during 2020 and 2021 growing seasons at Wondogenet, Shashemene and Arsis Nigel to evaluate the performance of improved potato varieties with respect to their tuber yield and qualities. Seven improved potato varieties were tested using randomized complete block design with three replications. All necessarily data were collected and analyzed using SAS software. The combined analysis of variance showed a highly significant differences (p≤0.05) among tested varieties for plant height, tuber diameter, tuber weight per hill, tuber yield per hectare, root dry matter content and specific gravity. As a result, Belete variety gave the highest tuber yield per hectare (35.37 t ha-1) which was followed by Burka variety (31.73 t ha-1) while the lowest (20.41 t ha-1) from Dagim variety. The highest tuber dry matter content (26.52) was obtained from Bolete variety which was statistically similar with Burka (25.85) variety while the lowest (21.18) from variety Dagim. With respect to specific gravity, Belete variety gave the highest (1.15) followed by Burka (1.11) variety but the lowest (1.03) was from Dagim variety. Therefore, among the tested potato varieties, Belete and Burka were recommended fortheir better tuber yield and quality traits for the study areas and similar agroecology

Keywords: Dry matter content; Environment; Genetic variation; Tuber quality; Tuber yield