Effect of Integrated Use of Lime and Vermicompost on Faba Bean Productivity and Selected Chemical Properties of the Soil in Acid Prone Areas of Ethiopia

Abstract

Soil acidity is one of land degradation problem that reduces land’s ability to provide ecosystem services which has stayed as an eminent problem limiting crop production and productivity in Ethiopia. To counteract this problem sustainably, development of regenerative agricultural strategy that aimed not simply at sustaining the current state of soils and ecology, rather at enhancing an array of different schemes such as conservation agriculture, integrated soil fertility management technology comprising inorganic and organic soil amendment and others are substantial. On-station experiment were conducted at Damotu FTC for three consecutive cropping seasons (2019, 2020 and 2021) to examine the integrated use of lime and vermicompost on faba bean productivity and the soil chemical properties. Two rates of lime (2.6 t ha-1 and 1.3 t ha-1), two level of vermicompost (4.6 t ha-1and 2.3 t ha-1 ) and two rates of NP fertilizer (46 N/18 P2 O5 and 23 N/9 P2 O5 )were combined systematically along with one control and standard check arranged in RCB design with three replications.. Three years mean result showed that a significantly highest number of pod per plant (13) were recorded from the combined use of 2.3 t ha-1 of vermicompost, 1.3 t ha-1 of lime and 46 N/18 P2 O5 . The trend is quite similar in biomass production and seed yield of faba bean where a significantly higher yield of grain (2.95 t ha-1) was obtained from the same input combination which outscored the control treatment by more than 100%. The soil analysis results revealed that soil pH increased from 5.19 (strongly acidic) to 6.21 (slightly acidic), while exchangeable acidity decreased from 1.7 to 0.13 cmol kg-1 under combined application of 4.6 t ha-1 of vermicompost and 2.6 t ha-1 of lime without the use of NP fertilizer. Higher values of TN and Av.P was obtained from the application of 2.3 t ha-1 of vermicompost and 2.6 t ha-1 of lime along with recommended NP fertilizer. The result of this investigation suggested that the integrated use of lime and vermicompost along with sub-optimal application rates of chemical NP fertilizer could increase faba bean yield significantly and improve soil chemical properties in acidic soil condition.