Tef Yield Response to NPS Fertilizer and Methods of Sowing in East Shewa, Ethiopia

Purpose: Soil fertility maintenance is a major concern in tropical Africa which needs to tackle soil fertility depletion as fundamental constraints. Similarly, the traditional way of planting tef reduces the amount of grain production, promotes competition for inputs and causes severe lodging. In this view, a study was to investigate the effect of sowing methods and NPS fertilizer application on tef production.

Research method: A factorial experiment was laid out in RCBD with12 treatment combination and three replications at DebreZeit Agricultural Research Center. The first factor included six NPS fertilizer rates and the second factor included two methods of sowing. Relevant data were gathered and analyzed using SAS and mean difference were compared using LSD.

Findings: The results of the study revealed that the analysis of variance among fertilizer rates and method of sowing showed significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) on almost all the tef characters tested. The shortest mean days to 50% panicle emergence (57.5) of teff were obtained from 120kg of NPS fertilizer. However, applied NPS fertilizer showed no significant difference on tef physiological maturity. The highest grain yield (3.77t ha-1), biomass yield (10.09 t ha-1) and straw yield (6.32 t ha-1) were recorded from combination of 120 kg NPS fertilizer and transplanting method. Blended fertilizer together with transplanting had improved the number of effective tiller and grain yield, biomass yield as well as straw yield. Therefore, 120 kg ha-1of NPS fertilizer and transplanting method can be suggested as one effective way to maximize grain yield of tef.

Research Limitation: Further validation and demonstrations across multiple areas would be necessary to make conclusive recommendation since the experiment was conducted for sole season and site.

Originality/Value: This study provides insights for farmers and stakeholders to incorporate blended fertilizer for soil fertility amendment and in encouraging of tef transplanting technology for boosting production.