GENETIC VARIABILITY AMONG ETHIOPIAN FABA BEAN (Vicia faba L.) GENOTYPES BY USING MORPHOLOGICAL MARKERS AT KULUMSA AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER

The study was carried out to assess the genetic variability and association Using Morphological Markers among faba bean genotypes. Faba bean have a long tradition of cultivation in old world agriculture, being among the most ancient plants in cultivation and also among the easiest to grow. Utilizing a selection of faba bean that have variation in their morphological attributes. Twelve faba bean genotypes were evaluated in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replication. Each block/plot/ consisted four rows with 1.60m width & 1.20m length. Each row consisted 10 sample plants and a totalof 40 plants in each plots at Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center. The data were recorded on 21 traits and analyzed to assess variation among genotypesusing SAS 9.0 software. Analysis of variance revealed significant difference among genotypes for traits number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, plant height, height to the first pod nod, pod length, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, seed feeling period, thousand seed weight, seed yield, biomass par plot, harvest index and economic growth rateand non-significant forlength, leaf width, leaf area, leaf area index, pod width, internodes length, number of branches per plant and seed feeling period. The significance of genotype difference indicates the presence of variability for each of the characters among the tested entries. High heritability (> 61 %) values were observed for number of pods per plant, plant height, height to the first pod nod, pod length, days to maturity, seed feeling period, thousand seed weight, seed yield, biomass par plot and harvest index. Moderate heritability (31 – 60%) were observed for number of seeds per pod, Days to 50% flowering and economic growth rate &Low heritability were observed for leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, leaf area index, internodes length & seed production efficiency. High expected genetic advances as percent of mean were observed for number of pods per plant, thousand seed weight, seed yield, biomass par plot and harvest index. Moderate expected genetic advances as percent of mean were observed for plant height and economic growth rate. Low expected genetic advances as percent of mean were observed for number of seeds per pod, height to the first pod nod, pod length, days to 50% flowering, days to maturity and seed feeling period. Therefore, faba bean genotypes had some level of genetic variability for seed yield and some other traits. The use of these traits in faba bean improvement increases yield