Effect of NPS and Nitrogen Fertilizer Rate on Yield and Yield Components of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) in Western Oromia, Ethiopia
[1]
Bodena Guddisa, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Bako Agricultural Research Center, Bako, Ethiopia.
[2]
Kebede Desalegn, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Bako Agricultural Research Center, Bako, Ethiopia.
[3]
Chemeda Birhanu, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Bako Agricultural Research Center, Bako, Ethiopia.
[4]
Gudeta Bedada, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Bako Agricultural Research Center, Bako, Ethiopia.
[5]
Girma Chemeda, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Bako Agricultural Research Center, Bako, Ethiopia.
The Major factors contributed to the low productivity of sorghum include biotic and abiotic factors such as inappropriate crop management practices. Moreover, application of balanced fertilizers is the basis to produce more crop yield from land under cultivation and nutrient needs of crops is based on their physiological requirements and expected yields. Thus, trial was conducted in 2018-2020 main cropping season from the mid of May to mid of December at Bako and Gute research site to identify the optimum amount of NPS and N fertilizer rate. The experiment consisted of twenty treatments combined factorial with five NPS (75, 87.5, 100, 112.5 and 125 kg ha-1) and four Nitrogen (35, 40, 46 and 52 kg ha-1) rates of fertilizer with uniform management of all cultural practices. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design in three replications. The pre soil analysis indicated that the soil of experimental ste is acidic (pH = 4.75 at Bako and 4.6 at Gute) and low in available Phosphorus (12 ppm at Bako and 10 ppm at Gute). The main effect of plant height, panicle length, thousand seed weight and stand count were not influenced (P>0.05) due to NPS and N rate, whereas days to heading and days to maturity were significantly different (P<0.05) due to the main effects of N rates even if not influenced due to NPS rates at Bako and Gute locations. On the other hand, head weight and grain yield were highly significantly (P<0.01) influenced by the main and interaction effect of NPS and N rates at both locations. Among different fertilizer rates tested, the combination of 125 NPS and 46 N rates gave the highest yield thereby resulting the highest net benefit. Thus, economic analysis revealed that combination of 125 NPS (47.5 P2O5, 23.75 N, 8.75 S kg ha-1) and 46 N kg ha-1 rates on Gemedi variety gave grain yield of 3563.1 kg ha-1 with the net benefit of 61578.4 birr/ha and the highest marginal rate of return (2402.96%), which is economically feasible alternative to the other treatments. Therefore, it is advisable to use combination of 125 NPS and 46N kg ha-1 rates on Gemedi variety since it is economically feasible to sorghum producers.
Biotic and Abiotic, Economic Analysis, NPS Rates, Yield and Yield Components
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