Participatory Evaluation of Improved Onion Varieties for Management of Onion Maggot (Delia antique) at Chirr Keble Delomenna District South Eastern Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the onion producing countries of the world and Bale Zone is one of the most productive areas of onion crop within a country. Pastoralist’s andagro pastoralists living from low land to highland areas of this zone are involved in onion production and the area is known by its huge potential. Even if the extensive onion production techniques used by smallholder farming generate very high income, these practices are threatening the sustainability of such farming because of many pests. The most prominent and devastating insect pests in study area is onion maggot. Therefore the Study intended to do the research on Participatory Evaluation of Improved Onion Verities for Management of Onion maggot. It was conducted on Bale zone Delomena woreda chirri kebel. The treatments consisted of three varieties namely: Melkam, Bombay and Nafis. The experiment was conducted using a randomized complete block design with three replication. The results of this study revealed that variety Bombay red and melkam are showed the symptom of onion maggot starting from seedling up to vegetative stage however variety Nafis is not totally show the symptom. Variety Bombay and melkam are showed the symptom at seedling stage maggot pupa on the base of the crop and yellowing of leaf at the vegetative stage. However, there are no significant yield losses at harvesting time. On the other hand the use of different varieties significantly affect plant height, number of leaf, pseudo steam length, bulb weight, bulb length and yield /ha. The highest plant height (69.07 cm) are found in Nafis while the lowest (53.03 cm) in melkam, The highest number of leaf (7.33) found in melkam while lowest (5) in Bombay red, The highest pseudo steam length (15.2) found in Bombay red while lowest (12.9) in Nafis, The highest bulb weight (110.10) found in Nafis red while lowest (80.17) in melkam, The highest bulb length (14.68) found in Nafis red while lowest (10.17) in Bombay red, The highest yield/ha (305.97) found in Nafis red while lowest (246.90) in Bombay red. Generally maximum bulb yield and bulb quality where obtained from Nafis variety and this variety was not affected by onion maggot. In addition to the finding the variety also selected by pastoral research group (PRG) in terms of both yield and resistant to onion maggot. Therefore, it is suggested that using Nafis verity in Delomena chirr Keble is effective for producing high yield and maggot resistant onion.