Response of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) to nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers at Sekota and Lasta districts of Eastern Amhara, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background Production and productivity of potato in Ethiopia is far below the world average because of soil fertility problem, pest, disease, and agronomic factors. Nutrient depletion because of soil erosion is a serious problem in Ethiopian highlands. Annually, 122 kg ha−1 nitrogen, 13 kg ha−1 phosphorous and 82 kg ha−1 potasium were estimated to deplete from Ethiopia (Haileslassie et al. 2005). From the essential nutrients especially, nitrogen and phosphorus are the most important influential elements for production of potato but they are deficient in most Ethiopian soils and thus an application of these nutrients could increase significantly the crop yields. Therefore, the experiment was conducted at Sekota and Lasta Lalibela districts (Woleh and Kechin Abeba irrigation command areas) of eastern Amhara, Ethiopia to investigate the effects of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers for yield and yield component of potato under irrigation condition. Methods Four rates of nitrogen (0, 46, 92, and 138 kg N kg ha−1) and phosphorus (0, 23, 46, and 69 Kg P2O5 kg ha−1) were combined with factorial arrangement and laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Results The result of the study revealed that nitrogen and phosphorus had a significant effect on plant height, marketable, and total yield of potato at Kechin Abeba. But phosphorus did not show a significant effect on plant height and unmarketable yield at Sekota district of Woleh irrigation command area. The highest yield 45.55 t ha−1 was obtained from combined application of 138 N and 23 P2O5 in Lalibela 17.12 and 16.99 t ha−1 were found from application of 138 N with 46 P2O5 kg ha−1 and 138 N with 23 P2O5 kg ha−1 from Sekota district of Woleh irrigation command area respectively. Conclusions The application of 138 kg ha−1 N with 23 kg ha−1 P2O5 is the appropriate rates for optimum productivity of potato at Lalibela (Kechin Abeba) and Sekota (Woleh) irrigation command areas and the same agro-ecology.

Effects of supplemental irrigation on yield, water use efficiency and nitrogen use efficiency of potato grown in mollic Andosols

“…This increase of plant height with N dosage was also reported in previous research (Godebo and Belay 2020;Setu and Mitiku 2020;Tolessa et al 2017). Sebnie et al (2021) indicated that an application of mineral N fertiliser increased potato plant height compared to unfertilised plots.…”

Perspective: could Ethiopian potatoes contribute to environmental sustainability, the Ethiopian economy, and human health?

“…Poor seed quality (Hirpa et al, 2010(Hirpa et al, , 2016, potato diseases such as bacterial wilt, late blight, and viruses (Gildemacher et al, 2009;Nasir, 2016), and inadequate soil fertility management (Emana and Nigussie, 2011;Schulte-Geldermann, 2013) are claimed as the main bottleneck to increase potato productivity in the country. However, different strategies have been applied to increase potato productivity in Ethiopia, including seed quality management (seed systems management and seed production) (Gildemacher et al, 2009;Hirpa et al, 2016), water efficient and scheduled irrigation systems (Gebremariam et al, 2018;Alemayehu et al, 2023;Wabela et al, 2023), soil fertility management using nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers (Sebnie et al, 2021;Woldeselassie et al, 2021;Amare et al, 2022), weed management (Kebede et al, 2016), integrated nutrient management (organic and inorganic mineral) (Girma et al, 2017;Mohammed and Dawa, 2018;Asaye et al, 2022), integrated disease and pest management (prevent bacterial wilt and late blight fungal disease, control of vectors and their viruses) (Wassihun et al, 2019;Andaregie and Astatkie, 2020;Wubet et al, 2022), post-harvest management (Tadesse et al, 2018;Degebasa, 2020), improved marketing systems, knowledge, and information systems, and using agricultural technologies (Gildemacher et al, 2009) are also critical for increasing potato productivity.…”

Performance of apical rooted cuttings of potato grown in Mollic Andosols under different nitrogen fertilization and irrigation regimes

“…Tolessa (2019) found that applying 207 kgN.ha À1 in rain-fed potato production can boost potato tuber yield and marketable yield by approximately 176% and 119%, respectively, compared to the unfertilized plots. Sebnie et al (2021) reported that marketable potato yield generally increases with the N rate, and a high marketable yield of 45.5 t.ha À1 can be achieved when applying 138 kgN.ha À1 . In contrast, a fieldwork study in Ethiopia recorded a marketable potato yield of 25.5 t.ha À1 with 150 kg.ha À1 .…”