Effects of NPS Fertilizer Rates on Yield and Yield Components of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Varieties in Southern Ethiopia

Asgelesh fesseha; Hussein Mohammed; Girma Abera

Abstract

Solanum tuberosum L. is a high-yielding crop that can be produced twice or four times per year. But its yield is limited due to low soil fertility and limited use of improved varieties. The study's objective was to identify the blend NPS fertilizer rates for potato varieties yield and yield components. The experiment was carried out using a factorial Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The results revealed that application of blended NPS plus urea fertilizer with varieties highly significantly influenced among tested parameters tuber weight, total tube, marketable tuber and unmarketable tuber yield were highly significantly influenced by the interaction effects. The maximum average tuber weight (124.39), total tuber yield (49.72) and marketable tuber yield (49.19) were obtained with the combination of variety Jalene at the rate of 354 kg NPS ha-1 plus 333kg ha-1 urea fertilizer. Based on the partial budget analysis, the highest net benefit of (216564 ETB) was recorded from variety Jalene at the rate of 354 kg ha-1 plus 333 kg ha-1 urea. While, the highest marginal rate of return (3294%) with the net benefit of (143552.40 ETB ) were recorded with the combination of variety Jalene at the rate of 59 kg NPS ha-1 plus 96 kg ha-1 urea fertilizer which can be tentatively recommended for economical and agronomically feasible production of potato. But as the results were limited to one season and location, multi-seasonal and location studies are further recommended.

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