Leaf and Seed Yield Response of Vegetable Amaranths to Nitrogen Fertilizers Applications and Harvesting Frequency at Jimma, South West, Ethiopia

Abstract

Amaranthus (Amaranthus cruentus) is an alternative food crops and requires low agronomic practice relative to other food crops, but the yield varies due to season, soil fertility, and variety and management practices variations. There is scant information on agronomic practices such as harvesting frequency and N fertilizer application rates.The objective of this study was to determine effect of nitrogen levels and harvesting frequencies on growth, leaf and seed yield and yield component of Amaranth Madiira-2 cultivar at Jimma under irrigation. Randomized complete Block design with factorial arrangement combination of five N levels (0, 34.5, 69, 103.5 and 138) with three harvesting frequency (weekly, Two weeks and every three weeks) replicated three times. Data on pheonological, growth yield and yield component were collected. Collected data were analysed using SAS software version (9.3). Results revealed that the combination effect of nitrogen and harvesting frequency significantly influenced (p<0.05) days to 50% flowering, days to 50% physiological maturity. whereas leaf area, leaf length, leaf width, plant height, above ground fresh weight, above ground dry weight per plant at harvest, leaf yield, and seed yield highly significantly influenced (p<0.01). However thousand seed weight highly influenced by harvesting. The highest leaf yield (30.33 ton ha-1) was obtained when 103.5 kg N ha-1 applied with Two weeks harvesting after transplanting. The highest seed yield (3.23 ton ha-1) was obtained for 103.5 kg N ha-1 and every three week harvesting. The positive correlation was observed between leaf yield, leaf area and branch there is also correlation between seed yield, plant height, branches and leaf area. Therefore, the present finding showed that farmers can benefit by applying 103.5 kg N ha-1 with Two weeks harvesting and 103.5 kg N ha-1 with every three week harvesting resulted in better leaf and seed yield respectively. However, since the data is collected from only one season and location, it would be worth repeating the experiment under field condition, across different season and locations to draw sound conclusions and recommendations.