Verification of Soil Test Crop Response Based Phosphorus Fertilizer Recommendation for Tef in Debre Libanos District, North Shewa Zone, Oromia

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted to verify the determined optimum amount of nitrogen (92 kg N ha -1), critical P concentration (15 ppm) and P requirement factor (6.1) for tef production in Debre Libanos Districts. The experimental field was arranged with 3 treatments. The trial was carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with seven replications over different Farmers field . Control (without fertilizer), Blanket recommendation (100kg Urea and100kg DAP) and soil test based fertilizer recommendation with recommended Nitrogen 92 kg ha -1 were used as a treatment. The gross plot area was 10 * 10m and the space between plots was 0.7m. The required amount of seeds was weighed per plot by considering the recommended rate of tef seed per hectare. The result from this study indicate that an optimum rate of nitrogen (92 Kg N/ha) and soil test based phosphorus fertilizer recommendation was highly significantly influence plant height, panicle length, biomass and grain yield of tef. The highest plant height (82 cm) panicle (27.78 cm), biomass yield (4673kg ha -1) and grain yield (1588 kg ha -1) was recorded from the application of soil test based fertilizer recommendation in conjunction with recommended optimum Nitrogen. The results of the economic analysis showed that the maximum net return was obtained due to soil test based phosphorus fertilizer recommendation .As a result determined Pc and Pf through , site specific soil test crop response based fertilizer study could be profitable for tef production in the study area and other areas having similar soil type and agro-ecology.