The Effect of Fertilizer Micro-dosing Rates on Yield Performance of Maize at Loka Abaya District, Southern Ethiopia
Eyerusalem Mohammed *
South Agricultural Research Institute, Worabe Agricultural Research Center, P.O. Box 21, Worabe, Ethiopia.
Girma Abera
College of Agriculture, Hawassa University, P.O. Box 05, Hawassa, Ethiopia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Optimizing fertilizer use is the most important route to increasing soil productivity. However, maintenance of soil fertility poses a pressing challenge in smallholder due for inefficiency in the returns of inputs, inefficient application methods and management committed to their farms. Mostly fertilizer use is limited due to high cost. To get the maximum benefit from fertilizer application, it should be applied with proper rate and methods. There was no scientific information available with regards to the response of maize to fertilizer micro-dosing technology in the study area. The study was undertaken to determine the effect of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer dozing on yield improvement of maize during 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 cropping seasons on farmer’s field. Five treatments tested were: control, micro-dosing treatments (50, 75 and 100% of the recommended dose of Nitrogen (92 N) and Phosphorus (69 P2O5) and 100% of recommended NP by the banding method that arranged in randomized complete block design replicated three times. The analysis of variance indicated that application method with different rate of fertilizer revealed significant effect on growth and yield components. Application of 92 N + 69 P2O5 by banding was resulted in significantly higher results of plant height, cob length, hundred kernel weight, stover and grain yield over application of 46 N + 34.5 P2O5 by micro-dosing and control but statistically at par with application of 69N + 51.75 P2O5 and 92 N + 69 P2O5 by the micro-dose method. Given the low soil fertility in the study area, the soil responded well to the maximum amount of fertilizer regardless of the application method used. Moreover, the treatment improved grain yield by 58.7% over the control. The applied treatments improved nutrient concentration, uptake and recovery of maize over Control. Therefore, the application of 100% rNP by banding can be recommended for maximum maize production in Loka Abaya and similar agro ecological areas with low soil fertility.
Keywords: Banding, micro-dosing, nutrient uptake, recommended NP, recovery