Growth and Nutrients Content and Uptake of Garlic (<i>Allium sativum L.</i>) as Influenced by Different Types of Fertilizers and Soils

Abstract

Farmers strive to produce high yield and good quality garlic both for consumption and economic value but soil fertility depletion is among the major impediments to sustained garlic production, especially in the less developed countries, because of limited application of suitable rate, type and sources of fertilizers. Thus, the study was conducted on Andosol and Vertisol soils at Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia, for two consecutive (dry and main rainy) seasons to assess the effect of various rates of compound fertilizers on growth, and nutrient content and uptake of garlic. The treatments consisted of control (unfertilized), one level of recommended NP (92/40 kg ha -1 ), three levels of Azofertil (100, 200, 300 kg ha -1 ), four levels of Basic (100, 200, 400, 600 kg ha -1 ) and three levels of D-coder (100, 200, 400 kg ha -1 ). The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete block design with three replications at each site. The morphological characters like plant height, neck thickness and leaf area index of garlic at different growth stages, and the contents and uptake of nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur of the crop were significantly increased due to the applications of higher levels of Azofertil, Basic and D-coder compound fertilizers on Andosol soil during both seasons. However, the lowest growths, and nutrients content and uptake were recorded from the garlic plants fertilized with lower levels of the three compound fertilizers, recommended NP and the control plot, especially on Vertisol. Generally, plant growths, and nutrients contents and uptake of garlic followed by Azofertil at the rate of 300 kg ha -1 on Andosol during dry season by irrigation.