Maize Response to Fertilizer Dosing at Three Sites in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Characteristics of Study Sites
2.2. Farm Characteristics
2.3. Treatments, Experimental Design and Procedures
- Control without fertilizer;
- Microdosing 26.6 kg DAP at planting and 26.6 kg urea ha−1 at maize jointing. This corresponds to applying 0.5 g DAP and urea per planting hill;
- Microdosing with 53 kg DAP ha−1 at planting and 53 kg ha−1 urea at maize jointing. This corresponds to applying 1 g DAP and urea per planting hill;
- Microdosing with 80 kg DAP ha−1 at planting and 80 kg ha urea at maize jointing. This corresponds to applying 1.5 g DAP and urea per planting hill;
- Banding with 100 kg DAP ha−1 at planting and 100 kg urea at maize jointing (national recommendation rate).
2.4. Agronomic Data Collection and Measurement
2.5. Fertilizer Use Efficiency
2.6. Economics of Fertilizer Use
2.7. Statistical Analyses
3. Results
3.1. Yield Characteristics and Responses to Fertilizer Microdosing and Banding
Site | Application | Fertilizer rate | Seed | Seedling | Lodging | Plant | Stand Count |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Method | (DAP + urea) (kg ha−1) | Germination (%) | Vigor | Count | Height | Harvest | |
Hawassa | Microdose | 0 | 97 a | 3.6 a | 2.0 a | 197 a | 46 a |
27 + 27 | 96 ab | 4.1 a | 1.0 ab | 199 a | 47 a | ||
53 + 53 | 96 b | 3.9 a | 1.0 ab | 200 a | 47 a | ||
80 + 80 | 92 c | 3.8 a | 1.6 ab | 202 a | 44 b | ||
Banding | 100 + 100 | 97 ab | 4.0 a | 1.6 ab | 204 a | 47 a | |
LSD | 1.07 | 0.54 | 1.08 | 28.34 | 1.29 | ||
Ziway | Microdose | 0 | 98 a | 2.9 c | 2.9 a | 203 a | 47 a |
27 + 27 | 98 a | 3.5 bc | 1.0 b | 203 a | 48 a | ||
53 + 53 | 98 a | 4.8 a | 1.0 b | 212 a | 48 a | ||
80 + 80 | 97 b | 3.4 bc | 1.0 b | 204 a | 46 b | ||
Banding | 100 + 100 | 98 a | 3.9 b | 1.0 b | 204 a | 48 a | |
LSD | 1.05 | 0.81 | 1.34 | 11.37 | 0.83 | ||
53 + 53 | 96 b | 3.9 a | 1.4 ab | 217 a | 47 ab | ||
80 + 80 | 93 c | 3.8 a | 1.3 b | 219 a | 45 c | ||
Banding | 100 + 100 | 97 ab | 4.0 a | 1.1 b | 215 a | 47 a | |
LSD | 1.07 | 0.54 | 0.85 | 7.32 | 1.19 |
3.2. Maize Yield Responses to Fertilizer Microdosing and Banding
Application | Fertilizer Rate | Grain Yield (kg ha−1) | Stover Yield (kg ha−1) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Method | (DAP + urea kg ha−1) | Hawassa | Ziway | Melkassa | Hawassa | Ziway | Melkassa |
0 | 6334 b | 4054 b | 3649 b | 7416 b | 6404 b | 5610 b | |
Microdosing | 27 + 27 | 7539 a | 5864 a | 5320 a | 8850 a | 8133 a | 7375 a |
53 + 53 | 7222 a | 6042 a | 5542 a | 8391 a | 8283 a | 7500 a | |
80 + 80 | 7086 a | 5743 a | 5221 a | 8265 a | 8042 a | 7167 a | |
Banding | 100 + 100 | 7636 a | 5815 a | 5226 a | 8896 a | 7999 a | 7375 a |
LSD | 608 | 300 | 339 | 671 | 800 | 406 |
3.3. Fertilizer Use Efficiency, Value Cost Ratio and Profitability
Fertilizer application | Hawassa | Ziway | Melkassa | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Method | rate | FUE | VCR | FUE | VCR | FUE | VCR |
(kg kg−1) | (kg kg−1) | (kg kg−1) | |||||
0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
Micro-dosing | 27 + 27 | 22.6 | 6.6 | 33.9 | 10.6 | 31.3 | 9.8 |
53 + 53 | 8.4 | 2.5 | 18.8 | 6.0 | 17.9 | 5.7 | |
80 + 80 | 4.7 | 1.4 | 10.6 | 3.3 | 9.8 | 3.1 | |
Banding | 100 + 100 | 6.5 | 1.9 | 8.8 | 2.8 | 7.9 | 2.5 |
Fertilizer | Hawassa | Ziway | Melkassa | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
rate | GI (US$ ha−1) | GM (US$ ha−1) | GI (US$ ha−1) | GM (US$ ha−1) | GI (US$ ha−1) | GM (US$ ha−1) |
0 | 1393 b | 1272 bc | 932 c | 813 c | 839 c | 719 c |
27 + 27 | 1659 a | 1442 a | 1346 ab | 1132 a | 1224 ab | 1009 a |
53 + 53 | 1589 a | 1333 abc | 1396 a | 1143 a | 1275 a | 1022 a |
80 + 80 | 1559 a | 1263 c | 1327 b | 1036 b | 1178 b | 887 b |
100 + 100 | 1680 a | 1400 ab | 1344 ab | 1069 b | 1202 ab | 928 b |
LSD | 134 | 133 | 55 | 56 | 73 | 74 |
4. Discussion
4.1. Maize Yield and Yield Characteristics Response to Fertilizer Microdosing and Banding
4.2. Fertilizer Use Efficiency, Value Cost Ratio and Profitability of Fertilizer Microdosing and Banding
4.3. Limitations and Opportunities in Using Fertilizers
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of interest
References
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Sime, G.; Aune, J.B. Maize Response to Fertilizer Dosing at Three Sites in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Agronomy 2014, 4, 436-451. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy4030436
Sime G, Aune JB. Maize Response to Fertilizer Dosing at Three Sites in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Agronomy. 2014; 4(3):436-451. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy4030436
Chicago/Turabian StyleSime, Getachew, and Jens B. Aune. 2014. "Maize Response to Fertilizer Dosing at Three Sites in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia" Agronomy 4, no. 3: 436-451. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy4030436