Determining the rate of blended fertilizers and urea for potato production under rainfed condition in Jeldu, West Showa, Ethiopia

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to determine the rate of blended fertilizers and urea for potato production under rainfed condition in Jeldu, West Showa, Ethiopia. Different fertilizer treatments viz., 150 kg ha-1 NPSB+80 kg ha-1 urea, 250 kg ha-1 NPSB+80 kg ha-1 urea, 350 kg ha-1 NPSB+80 kg ha-1 urea, 150 kg ha-1 NPSB+140 kg ha-1 urea, 250 kg ha-1 NPSB+140 kg ha-1 urea, 350 kg ha-1 NPSB+140 kg ha-1 urea, 150 kg ha-1 NPSB +200 kg ha-1 urea, 250 kg ha-1 NPSB +200 kg ha-1 urea and 350 kg ha-1 N+200 kg ha-1 urea was used for the production of Belete and Gudenie potato varieties (cv. Jeldu Wereda) during 2018-2019 using RCBD factorial arrangement in three replication. This study revealed that there was a highly significant difference between the yield and yield components of potato due to the main effect of fertilizer rates. The interaction did not significantly affect any parameter of potato during the study. The highest total and marketable yields (22.95 t ha-1 and 20.06 t ha-1), respectively were harvested from 350 kg ha-1 NPSB+200 kg ha-1 urea though not significantly different from total and marketable yield of 250 kg ha-1 NPSB+200 kg ha-1 urea (22.08 and 19.14 t ha-1) and 350 kg ha-1 + 140 kg ha-1 urea (21.65 and 18.84 t ha-1), respectively. The partial budget analysis indicated that the highest benefit (64,916.00ETB) was fetched from 350 kg ha-1 NPSB+200 kg ha-1 urea followed by 250 kg ha-1 NPSB+200 kg ha-1 urea (63,004.00ETB) while the highest marginal rate of return (19,430.00%) was recorded from 250 kg ha-1 NPSB+200 kg ha-1 followed by 150 kg ha-1 NPSB+200 kg ha-1 urea (17,000.00%). From this, it can be concluded that the NPSB+ urea rates highly significantly affected the yield and yield component of potato. Thus, 250 kg ha-1 urea+200 kg ha-1 urea can be used for high yield and high economic return of potato in Jeldu district.