[01] Temesgen Abo, Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center (EIAR), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. [02] Wassu Mohamed, School of Plant Sciences, Haramaya University, Haramaya, Ethiopia. [03] Tesfahun Alemu, Holeta Agricultural Research Center (EIAR), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

In Ethiopia, field pea (Pisum sativum L.) is the major source of protein for resource poor farmers. The development of varieties for yield and disease resistance is one of the important activities to support farmers and improve the productivity of the crop. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess genetic variability and association among agronomic traits of field pea genotypes. Forty-nine field pea genotypes were evaluated in simple lattice design at Bekoji and Asasa in 2019 cropping season. Data collected for morpho-agronomic traits were subjected for analysis of variance. The analysis of variance showed significant differences among genotypes for most of the traits. The genotypes variations for grain yield in the range between 442.4 to 5148.3 kg ha^-1. A total of 10 genotypes had higher grain yield than high yielding check variety, Bursa (3919.23 kg ha^-1) of which EH 010011-3, EH 05048-5 and EK 08017-3 had 31.36, 10.69 and 10.38% yield advantages, respectively, over higher yielding check variety. The mean performance of genotype EH010011-3 was highest at Assasa and Bekoji with mean grain yield 5190 kg/ha and 4498 kg/ha respectively. Asasa was showed high environment mean yield (4028.9 kg/ha) compared to Bekoji (2866.6 kg/ha). The genotypic coefficient of variation ranged from 1.09% for days to maturity to 17.25% for grain yield, whereas the phenotypic coefficient of variation ranged from 1.23% for days to maturity to 21.67% for grain yield/ha. The estimated broad sense heritability ranged from 63% for grain yield to 94.0% for days to 50% flowering. Genetic advance as percent of mean ranged from 1.99% for days to maturity to 28.89% for total biomass. The study showed the existence of reasonable genetic variability among the field pea genotypes that could be exploited in breeding programs.

Genetic Advance, Heritability, Pisum sativum, Traits, Variability

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