Yield Performance of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Varieties under Rainy Season at Wogera District, Northwestern Ethiopia

Potato is a very important food and cash crop in Ethiopia which has a favorable agroecology for productivity. However, factor like lack of adapted variety is a critical challenge of crop productivity. A field experiment was conducted at Wogera District, Northwestern Ethiopia to investigate the performance of different varieties of potatoes for yield and its components. The study was conducted at two different locations during 2016/17 namely main cropping season, under rain fed condition using two improved varieties and one local variety. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The result of the study showed significant differences among varieties for all the recorded traits except total number of tubers. The local variety is out performed by improved varieties for the majority of the traits except flowers and maturity. The variety Guassa matured earlier gave 147.2% more marketable tuber number. Moreover this variety provided 121.8% and 90.8% advanced marketable and total tuber yield over the local landrace. Hence, Guassa can be used in the study area in similar agroecology in near future.