TITLE:
Effects of Integrated Nutrient Management on Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Growth, Yield and Yield Components at Haramaya Watershed, Eastern Ethiopia
AUTHORS:
Abdulaziz Mohammed, Muktar Mohammed, Niguse Dechasa, Fuad Abduselam
KEYWORDS:
FYM, Inorganic Fertilizer, Marketable Tuber Yield
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.5 No.3,
March
30,
2018
ABSTRACT: Potato is an important food security and cash crop in eastern Hararghe Zone. However, the productivity of the crop is constrained by low soil fertility and poor fertilizer management practices. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted at Haramaya watershed in Haramaya District, Eastern Ethiopia; during the 2014 off season using irrigation. The main objective of the study was to assess the effects of integrated nutrient management on potato growth, yield and yield components. The treatments were three rates of farmyard manure (0, 5, 10, t ha﹣1), three rates of N (0, 55.5, 111 kg N ha﹣1), and three rates of phosphorus (0, 46, 92 kg P2O5 ha﹣1). The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete block design in (RCBD) in a factorial arrangement with three replications. The results showed that the effect of integrated use of organic and inorganic fertilizer had significant influence on plant height, above ground biomass, day to maturity, total tuber yield, average tuber number/hill, average tuber mass/hill, marketable tuber number and tuber dry matter yield. The highest marketable tuber yields of 38.65 t ha﹣1 followed by 36.24 t ha﹣1 were obtained in response to a combined application of farm yard manure, N and P at the rates of 10 t FYM ha﹣1 111 kg N ha﹣1 92 kg P2O5 ha﹣1 and 10 ton FYM ha﹣1 111 kg N ha﹣1 46 kg P2O5 ha﹣1, respectively. The marketable and total tuber yields were positively and significantly correlated with all growth and yield components studied but negatively and significantly correlated with the number of main stem/hill, unmarketable tuber yield. In conclusion, application of farm yard manure with, N and P not only significantly improved productivity, but also profitability of the crop.