Abstract
Application of unbalanced nutrition was the main yield limiting factor in the study area. Hence, an experiment was conducted during the 2017 cropping season on farmers’ fields to validate and determine optimum blended fertilizer rate for teff production. Eight levels of NPSB (0, 25, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 kg ha-1) and recommended NP (100 kg ha-1 urea and 100 kg ha-1TSP) were used as treatments and set in randomized complete block design with three replications. All the fertilizers were applied at planting but nitrogen was top dressed in two time split. Surface soil samples was collected before teff sowing and after harvest; with total nitrogen, available phosphorus, extractable sulfur and boron found to be at low level. Application of different blended NPSB fertilizer rates significantly affected crop phonology, yield and yield components of teff. Highest mean teff grain yield (2803.09 kg ha-1) was obtained in response to 250 kg ha-1NPSB with 62.5 and 33.4% yield increment over the control and recommended NP. Similarly, the highest straw yield was also obtained from plot treated with that rate and it has 80 and 44.4% yield increment over the control and the recommended NP, respectively. The partial budget analysis also revealed that marginal rate of return was highest (1179.5%) at a rate of 250 kg ha-1NPSB+46 kg N ha-1 from which better biomass and economic advantage was attained. Hence it could be concluded that it is possible for optimum teff yield to be attained using 250 kg ha-1NPSB+46 kg N ha-1. Key words: Eragrostis tef, blended fertilizer, yield components, NP fertilizer, Laelay Maichew.  
Highlights
Teff (Eragrostis tef) is endemic to Ethiopia and its major diversity is found only in Ethiopia
Labor cost was calculated as 60 ETB per day per person and revenue was calculated by assuming 23.8 ETB kg-1 of teff grain yield, 3.1 ETB kg-1 for straw yield and costs of fertilizers (1457.20 ETB NPSB, 1251.65 ETB urea, and 1667.10 ETB TSP) per 100 kg of each was calculated based on the last year price
Experimental yields are often higher than the yields that farmers could expect using the same treatments; in economic calculations, researchers have judged that farmers using the same technologies would obtain yields adjusted by 10% lower than those obtained by the researchers if the experiments are planted on representative farmers' fields (CIMMYT, 1988)
Summary
Teff (Eragrostis tef) is endemic to Ethiopia and its major diversity is found only in Ethiopia. Application of fertilizers containing N and P [urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP)] as a blanket recommendation [(100 kg DAP (1846-0) and 100 kg urea (46-0-0)] began in the late 1960s (Wassie and Tekalign, 2013) to improve the productivity of the soil. Seven soil nutrients (N, P, K, S, Fe, Zn and B) were found to be deficient in the soils Tigray region (Ethio SIS, 2014) Balanced fertilizers containing these deficient nutrients in blend form have been recommended to solve site specific nutrient deficiencies and thereby increase crop production and productivity (ATA, 2014). Hatsebo kebelle soil has N, P, S and B nutrients deficiency; as a result, the NPSB blended fertilizer type is recommended to improve sustainable soil production of the kebelle (EthioSIS, 2014). This study was conducted to validate and determine the optimum rate of the newly recommended blended NPSB fertilizer type at kebelle level for optimum teff production
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