Farmer Participatory Varital Evaluation of Finger Millets in the Monaragala District of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Farmer participatory varietal evaluations are important to select varieties with more adaptable characteristics for a given environment. Ten varieties including three DOA recommended varieties namely Ravi, Rawana and Oshada, four pipe line varieties namely, AD 1, AD 2, AD 3 and AD 4 and three farmer grown varieties namely, Galmora, Maha Galmara and Kiri Kurakkan were evaluated in twelve mother trials at villages of Kahakuruflanpellessa, Mahawewa and Sooriya Ara. Varieties in best mother trial of each village were voted at the ripening stage with participation of farmers and officials. Length of maturity period of tested varieties ranged from 26 days to 33 days. Maha galmora was the latest maturing variety while Oshada and Galmora were close to it. The best yielder was AD 1, while the Galmora gave the lowest yield. Rests of the varieties were comparable in yielding ability. Kirikurakkan received the highest preference of farmers with a mean rank of 9.7. Oshada was the second preferred variety with 8.67 mean ranks. AD 1 and AD 3 also were preferred by farmers with 6 and 5.3 mean ranks, respectively.