Abstract
A field experiment was conducted for two years (2019 and 2020) during the main cropping seasons at Holeta, Welmera wereda, West Shoa, in the central highlands of Ethiopia to determine optimum planting density and fertilizer rates for maize production. The treatments consists of factorial combination of four population densities (44,444, 53,333, 62,500 and 66,666 plants/hectare) and four fertilizer rates (150:200,150:250, 200:200 and 250:200 NPS:Urea kg/ha) laid down in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The main effect of population density significantly (P < 0.05) affected plant height, ear height, cob diameter and grain yield but not significantly affected cob length, number of cob per plant and thousand seed weight. Even if the main effect of population density did not significantly affect thousand seed weight, the lowest thousand seed weight was recorded at the highest population density. The main effect of fertilizer rates significantly (P < 0.05) affected only plant height and grain yield. As population density increases maize grain yield was also increasing, and the highest grain yield (8894.2kg/ha) was attained by the highest population density (66,666plants/ha). This means that population density more than 66,666plants /ha may be needed because the grain yield was still in increasing manner. On the other hand, the interaction effect of population density and fertilizer rates was not significant to affect all the tasted growth and yield parameters. Based on statistical and economic analysis results, out of the tasted treatments the highest grain yield was recorded at the highest population density (66,666plants/ha) and using fertilizer rate of 250NPS:200Urea. Keywords: highland maize, population density, fertilizer rate, yield DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/13-3-03 Publication date: February 28 th 2022
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays ) is one of the most important cereal grain crops used as the human diet, livestock feed and raw material for various industries in large parts of the world ( Khan et al, 2008)
Maize plant height increased significantly with the increasing of planting density as well as fertilizer rates
The tallest plant height (236.76cm and 235cm) was recorded from the highest plant density (66,666 plants/ha) and highest fertilizer rate (250kgNPS/ha:200kgUrea/ha), respectively whereas, the shortest plant height was recorded in the lowest planting density and lowest fertilizer rate (Table 1)
Summary
Maize (Zea mays ) is one of the most important cereal grain crops used as the human diet, livestock feed and raw material for various industries in large parts of the world ( Khan et al, 2008). In Ethiopia, maize is one of the top priority food crops selected to achieve food security, in the major maize producing regions, western, north western and southern parts of the country. It is used for household diet in different forms such as bread, muffin, boiled grain, enjera, local beer (tela), green cob and porridge are the most common prepared forms for direct use ( Golla , 2018). The more favorable planting pattern provided by closer rows enhances maize growth rate early in the season ( Bullock et al, 1988), leading to a better interception of sunlight, a higher radiation use efficiency and a greater grain yield Westgate et al, ( 1997). The current research was designed with the objectives of determining the appropriate population density and fertilizer rate to attain optimum yield for high land maize and to study interaction effect of population density and fertilizer rates on yield and yield components of high land maize
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