Abstract:
Despite its long history of cultivation and wide range of uses in different
communities the yield of barley is very low (1.0 t ha'1). The major production
constraints of barley include diseases (such as scald, netblotch, spot blotch, rusts
and smuts), insect pests (such as Russian wheat aphid and barley fly), poor soil
fertility poor soil drainage, frost and moisture stresses.
Barley research in Ethiopia started at the Debre Zeit Research Center in 1955.
Since 1967 the IAR is coordinating barley improvement efforts. Currently
research on barley is being carried out at seven research centers and sub-centers
with several testing sites representing the major barley growing regions. The
research program follows a multi-disciplinary approach. Several high yielding food
and malting barley varieties with their appropriate production packages are
released. At present some of them are under production. Research on barley has
several setbacks, which include inadequate research centers, shortage of trained
work force and facilities and slow transfer of technologies.
