ADAPTATION OF FOOD BARLEY (HORDEUM VULGARE L.) GENOTYPES

The experiment was conducted during 2010 main cropping season. Four sites of six-row barley growing areas of northern Ethiopia were included in the experiment. Its objective was to estimate the magnitude of genotype x environment interactions and their adaptability in the area. Eight nationally released food barley varieties together with four farmers’ varieties were planted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. According to Eberhart and Rusell’s regression stability analysis, Agegnhu and Shedho were stable genotypes, on the other hand, in Wricke’s ecovalence (wi) stability analysis, genotypes Basso and Trit were more stable in grain yield as their contributions to the GEI sum of squares were the least.