Ridge regression technique to determine the environmental influences on tef (Eragrostis tef) grain yield

Abstract

Tef grain yield is dependent on a number of component characters such as plant height and panicle length. These characters and consequently yield are governed by a large number of factors including environmental factors. The objective of this paper was to determine the environmental influences on tef grain yield. The effects of eleven environmental variables on tef yield were studied using least squares and ridge regression analyses. The results revealed that the least squares estimates of regression coefficients for seven environmental variables did not give a correct indication of the influence of the variables on tef yield but that the estimates from ridge regression were stable. In addition, the ridge regression model has a lower mean square error. Tef grain yield is positively correlated to rainfall, average monthly minimum temperatures, soils dominated by silt with adequate quantities of available nitrogen while it is negatively influenced by average monthly maximum temperatures and clay soils. The results obtained from this study are in accordance with previous literature about the effects of environmental factors on yield of tef cultivars.