Determination of NPS Fertilizer Rate on Bread Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) in Yaya Gullele District of North Shewa Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Inappropriate crop management practices are among the key elements that contributed to the low production of wheat. Moreover, the application of balanced fertilizers and nutrient requirements of the crop is the basis to produce more crop yield from the land under cultivation. Hence, a field experiment was conducted in the 2020 & 2021 main cropping season to determine the NPS fertilizer rate in relative to determined the P-critical and P-requirement factor for wheat and to estimate the economically feasible NPS fertilizer rate for higher yield of wheat in Yaya gulale District. Accordingly the result indicated that, plant height was not significantly (P > 0.05 ) influenced by the NPS fertilizer rate but spike length, biomass, and grain yield were highly significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the NPS fertilizer rate. The highest plant height (86.72cm), spike length (6.57cm), biomass yield (12163kg ha-1) and grain yield (3327 kg ha-1) of wheat were recorded by the application of 75% 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 indicates that, application of NPS fertilizer at the rate of 75% P-critical in NPS fertilizer with recommended Nitrogen fertilizer (92 kg N ha-1) for the production of wheat was more economically beneficial for the district. In conclusion, farmers and other end users could be advised to use 75% PC from NPS fertilizer rate with recommended nitrogen for wheat production in the district and other areas having similar soil types and agro- ecology.