Abstract

The high altitude sub-humid agro-ecology, including the highland transition and true highlands, is next to the midaltitude agro-ecology with greater production in Ethiopia. The crop is increasingly grown to typical highlands of Ethiopia where it has been a minor crop in the past. Since the establishment of the highland maize breeding program at Ambo Plant Protection Research Center in 1998 as a collaborative project between CIMMYT and National Agricultural Research Systems in east and central African countries, seven (six hybrids and one OPV) cultivars were released for wide production. This study was, therefore, initiated with the objective of determining the genetic gain of grain yield obtained from the release of the highland cultivars for the last one decade. The annual genetic gain in grain yield for breeding period of 2005-2016 was found to be 267 kg ha^-1 year^-1.