Leveraging Traditional Crops for Food and Feed: A Case of Hulless Barley (HORDEUM VULGARE) Landraces in Ethiopia

Abstract

This study explored food-feed traits in genotypes of 25 indigenous Ethiopian landraces, 13 landraces introduced into Ethiopia and 5 local checks of hulless barley (Hordeum vulgare). The genotypes were evaluated for straw fodder quality traits and the traits were related to grain yield and straw yield. The genotypes were grown in Ethiopia during the 2016 cropping season using augmented design consisting of 5 complete blocks. Results of the study showed high genotypic variability in grain yield (5.1 t/ha), straw yield (7.03 t/ha) and straw content of crude protein (CP: 29.1 g/kg), neutral detergent fiber (NDF: 77 g/kg), acid detergent fiber (ADF: 41 g/kg), acid detergent lignin (ADL: 22.7 g/kg) and invitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD: 72 g/kg). Further, cluster analysis determined 6 genotypes i.e. 243231, 241790, 219177, 243235, 241787, 241789 among Ethiopian landraces that showed food-feed traits with an average of 3.44 t/ha of grain, 5.64 t/ha of straw and 55.9 g/kg of CP. The correlation between grain yield with straw yield and nutritive value parameters was insignificant. Principle component analysis determined that either CP, NDF or IVOMD can express the nutritive value of hulless barley straw. The study highlights the natural genotypic variation in grain yield and straw traits in hulless barley that can be exploited using appropriate breeding methods to develop varieties with a combination of food traits for human food and feed traits for livestock feed. These varieties would be particularly beneficial for mixed crop-livestock systems that are predominant in developing countries.