Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizer Levels and Row Spacing on Yield and Yield Components of Upland Rice Varieties in Pawe, Northwestern Ethiopia

Zewdineh Melkie

doi:10.7176/jnsr/10-11-01

Abstract

Rice (Oryza species) is a major cereal crop in Pawe area. However the yield of the crop is low due to lack of site specific row spacing and fertilizer recommendation. Hence, a field experiment was conducted in Pawe Agricultural Research center during the rainy season of 2016 to assess the effect of row spacing and nitrogen fertilizer level on grain yield and yield component and to determine their economic feasibility on up-land rice varieties under rain-fed conditions. Two varieties (NERICA-4 and Pawe-1), three row spacing (RS) (20, 25 and 30 cm) and four N levels (0, 32, 64 and 96 kg ha -1 ) were laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design in factorial combination with three replications. Among the main treatment, variety NERICA-4 showed significantly taller plant height and panicle length. Interaction effect of variety, RS and N levels highly significantly (P < 0.01) affected the number of total tiller m -2 (NTT), fertile tiller 0.5 m -2 row length (FT), thousand kernels weight (TKW), above ground dry biomass yield, straw yield (STY) and harvest index, and significantly (P<0.05) affected grain yield (GY) ha -1 . The highest (420.0 m -2 ) NTT was found by variety NERICA-4 at 20 cm RS and 96 kg N ha -1 . The highest GY (6462.56 kg ha -1 ) was obtained by variety NERICA-4 at RS 20cm and 96 kg N ha -1 and the lowest GY (1935.5 kg ha -1 ) was obtained by variety Pawe-1 at RS 30 cm and no N input. The highest STY (8477.2 kg ha -1 ) was produced by variety Pawe-1 at 20 cm RS and 96 kg N ha -1 . The attractive net benefit (32,063.8 birr ha -1 ) with acceptable marginal rate of return (453.4%) for farmers in Pawe was found from variety NERICA-4 interacts with RS 20 cm and 96 kg N ha -1 . Keywords : - Biomass Yield, Grain Yield, Interaction effect, NERICA-4, Net benefit. DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/10-11-01 Publication date: June 30th 2020

Highlights

Rice (Oryza species) is an annual cereal crop belonging to the family of Poaceae
Description of the Study Area The study was conducted at Pawe Agricultural Research Center (PARC) which is located in the lowlands of the northwestern Ethiopia
The best suitable soil for rice production is considered with a pH range of 5.5 to 6.6, but it is tolerant to a range of soils with pH from

Summary

Introduction

Rice (Oryza species) is an annual cereal crop belonging to the family of Poaceae. It is one of the most important food crop and a major food grain for more than a third of the world population (Zhao et al, 2011) in East and South Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. It is a short day summer crop grown under diverse climatic and edaphic conditions. Rice can grow at elevations (in tropical regions) as high as 3000 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l) (FAO, 2013). Ethiopia have reasonable potential to grow different rice types in rainfed lowland, upland, and irrigated ecosystems. In 2014/15 and 2015/16 cropping season, rice was produced on 46,823.22 ha and 45454.18 of land in the country with total production of 1,318,218.53 tons and 1268,064.47 tons respectively (CSA, 2016)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion