Determination of NPS Fertilizer Rate Based on Calibrated Phosphorus for Yield of Tef in Girar Jarso District, North Shewa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Appropriate soil fertility management practices based on the actual limiting nutrients and crop nutrient requirement for a given crop is economic and judicious use of fertilizers for sustainable crop production. Moreover, application of balanced fertilizers and nutrient requirements of the crop is the basis to produce more crop yield from the land under cultivation. Accordingly, field experiment was conducted in 2019 & 2020 main cropping season to determine NPS fertilizer rate in relative to determined P-critical and P-requirement factor for tef and to estimate the economically feasible NPS fertilizer rate for higher yield of tef in Girar Jarso district. The indicate that, plant height, spike length, straw and grain yield was highly significantly (P<0.01) affected by NPS fertilizer rate. The highest plant height (86.32cm), spike length (32.51cm), straw yield (7004 kg ha^-1) and grain yield (1622 kg ha^-1) of tef was recorded from the application of 100% P-critical from NPS fertilizer rate supplemented with recommended Nitrogen whereas, the lowest value was recorded from the field without fertilizer which was significantly inferior to all other treatments. Furthermore, the economic analysis depicted that, application of NPS fertilizer at the rate of 100% P-critical in NPS fertilizer with recommended Nitrogen fertilizer (92 kg N ha^-1) for the production of tef was more economically beneficial for the district. In conclusion, farmers could be advised to use 100% PC from NPS fertilizer rate with recommended nitrogen for tef production in the district.