Evaluate the Performance of Early Set Soybean (Glycine max (L) Merrill) Varieties under Irrigation in North Western Ethiopia

This experiment was conducted in 2018 and 2019 off seasons at Pawe Agricultural Research Center irrigation site of Duhuans Baguna substation, to select high yielder and best performing soybean varieties under irrigation, to generate information about the varietal performance and widen the production options to investors and smallholder farmers in addition to rainfed. The experiment consisting eight early set soybean varieties and was done using randomized complete block design with three replications. The result revealed that there was highly significant difference in days to flowering, 100 seed weight and grain yield among the tested varieties. The variety was significantly interacted with year in days to flowering, grain yield, plant height, numbers of branches, and 100 seed weight. Two-year combined results of grain yield were ranged from 1147.7 to 2479.8 kg ha-1 . The highest grain yield was found by Coker-240 (24.79.8 kg ha-1 ) followed by Gozela (2293.9 kg ha-1 ) and Awassa-95 (2286.2 kg ha-1 ) whereas Nova (1147.7 kg ha-1 ) and William (1343.3 kg ha-1 ) were recorded the lowest grain yield, respectively. Therefore, the variety Coker-240, Gozela and Awassa-95 are recommended for production under irrigation environmental conditions in northwestern Ethiopia and similar agricultural ecologies.