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Background Soil quality, which can be inferred using indicators that interact synergistically, is affected by land use types and agricultural management practices. This study assessed the status of soil quality under three adjacent land uses (cultivated, grazing, and fallow) in Kersa subwatershed (622 ha). Soil samples were collected from the surface soil (0–20 cm depth) of the identified land uses with three replications and the soil quality parameters were analyzed. A minimum data set of soil quality indicators were selected from physical, chemical, and biological parameters using the literature review and expert opinion method. Linear scoring functions were used to give the unitless scores for the selected data sets, which were then integrated into a soil quality index (SQI). Results The results revealed that bulk density, aggregate stability, pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), available P, and soil organic carbon (SOC) had a significant difference in SQI among the different land uses. The soil quality indices were 0.69 for grazing land, 0.62 for cultivated land, and 0.59 for the fallow land. The SQI of all the land uses falls in the intermediate soil quality (0.55 < SQI < 0.70) class. Conclusion In almost all the quality indicators assessed, the grazing land was superior to the cultivated and fallow lands. Therefore, implementing management practices that enhance soil quality like organic matter-controlled systems is imperative for sustainable agricultural production in the study area.

Potato is an important food security and cash crop in eastern Hararghe Zone. However, the productivity of the crop is constrained by low soil fertility and poor fertilizer management practices. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted at Haramaya watershed in Haramaya District, Eastern Ethiopia; during the 2014 off season using irrigation. The main objective of the study was to assess the effects of integrated nutrient management on potato growth, yield and yield components. The treatments were three rates of farmyard manure (0, 5, 10, t ha −1), three rates of N (0, 55.5, 111 kg N ha −1), and three rates of phosphorus (0, 46, 92 kg P 2 O 5 ha −1). The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete block design in (RCBD) in a factorial arrangement with three replications. The results showed that the effect of integrated use of organic and inorganic fertilizer had significant influence on plant height, above ground biomass, day to maturity, total tuber yield, average tuber number/hill, average tuber mass/hill, marketable tuber number and tuber dry matter yield. The highest marketable tuber yields of 38.65 t ha −1 followed by 36.24 t ha −1 were obtained in response to a combined application of farm yard manure, N and P at the rates of 10 t FYM ha −1 + 111 kg N ha −1 + 92 kg P 2 O 5 ha −1 and 10 ton FYM ha −1 + 111 kg N ha −1 + 46 kg P 2 O 5 ha −1 , respectively. The marketable and total tuber yields were positively and significantly correlated with all growth and yield components studied but negatively and significantly correlated with the number of main stem/hill, unmarketable tuber yield. In conclusion, application of farm yard manure with, N and P not only significantly improved prod-How to cite this paper: Mohammed, A., Mohammed, M., Dechasa, N. and Abduselam, F. (2018) Effects of Integrated Nutrient Management on Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Growth, Yield and Yield Components at Haramaya Watershed, Eastern Ethiopia.