Abstract
Water logging is a challenge to crop productivity under the rain fed system on Vertisols of central highlands of Ethiopia. Using appropriate drainage system and manipulating planting dates can reduce the effect of water logging and improve productivity of Vertisols of the area. The current field experiment was conducted to evaluate four different drainage systems ( Dry planting, Ridge &Furrow (RF), Broad Bed Maker( BBM) and Flat bed) and five sowing dates (Mid may, Early June, Mid-late June, Mid July and Late August ) in improving productivity of wheat crop on vertisol of central highlands of Ethiopia under rain fed condition during the main cropping season. The treatments of the experiment were the systematic combination of four drainage systems and five planting dates. The experiment was conducted at three locations (Ginchi on station, Sheno and Sodo dache on farm) on Vertisols of central highlands of Ethiopia. Analysis of variance indicated that some of wheat Yield related parameters (Plant height, spike length, biomass yield and grain yield ) tasted were significantly (p<0.05) affected by different drainage systems and sowing dates. According to this research trial, Out of seven treatments tasted T 2 (Early June + Dry plating) provide the highest grain yield 2214.7Kg/ha, 2230kg/ha and 8253kg/ha was recorded at Ginchi, sodo dache and sheno sites respectively. As vertisols in Ethiopia exist in different agro-climatic conditions in the country and show a considerable variability the research should be repeated and be supported with the long term local weather and soil data in order to determine drainage systems and sowing dates for a specific locations of vertisol areas. Keywords: Vertislol, Drainage system, planting date, Yield, Wheat DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/11-19-05 Publication date: October 31 st 2020
Highlights
Agriculture in Ethiopia is dominated by low productive rain fed farming
Crop productivity on Vertisols can be increased through early planting and improved surface drainage
Since the trial was conducted at different locations under rain fed system due to the fluctuation of weather specially starting time of rain there were zero values recorded in the data and as a result the coefficient of variance (CV%) becomes high in some parameters tasted
Summary
Agriculture in Ethiopia is dominated by low productive rain fed farming. The annual grain production, which averages 7 million tonnes, is too low to support national food demands (Eyasu, 2005). In Ethiopia, Vertisols account for 12.6 million hectares, of which about 7.6 million ha found in the highlands and are generally waterlogged due to abundant rainfall during the growing period. These soils are generally hard when dry and sticky when wet, a very low infiltration rate when the surface is sealed, very low saturated hydraulic conductivity and compaction as a result of swelling, and presents serious limitations to their use. Crop production on the Ethiopian Vertisols is limited because of impeded drainage, difficulty of land preparation, soil erosion and low soil fertility (Tekalign et al, 1988; Haque, 1992). Appropriate cropping systems are required for efficient use of the whole growing season
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