Effects of Integrated Nutrient Management on Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Growth, Yield and Yield Components at Haramaya Watershed, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

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.

Review on Effects of Various Inorganic Fertilizers and Cattle Manure on the Tuber Yield and Quality of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L) in Ethiopia

“…The treatment that received a recommended dose of 111 kg N ha −1 and 92 kg P2O5 ha −1 fertilizer significantly increased tuber dry matter yield. Similarly, the effect of a 5-ton FYM ha −1 application on tuber dry matter yield was statistically significant compared to the control treatment (Mohammed et al, 2018). Figure 3 shows the response of potato dry matter to blended (NPS) and cattle manure.…”

“…The increasing rate of Cattle manure and mineral NP application from 0-7.5 t CM+75% RDF ha -1 increased marketable tuber number from 6.2046-9.72 and 9.50 -1 1.08/hill (Zewide et al, 2018). According to Mohammed et al (2018), the highest marketable tuber yields of 38.65 t ha−1 of potato was obtained in response to a combined application of farmyard manure, N and P at the rates of 10 t FYM ha −1 + 111 kg N ha −1 + 92 kg P2O5 ha −1 Marketable tuber number was highly significantly affected by the main effects of FYM and mineral NP fertilization rates; the marketable tuber number increased linearly for both FYM and mineral NP fertilizer application. The application of inorganic fertilizer in combination with organic manure highly improves yield obtained from potato tuber.…”

“…Tuber size distribution varies with many factors among which soil fertility and population density are the major ones (Haverkort et al, 2012). According to Mohammed et al (2018), the highest average tuber mass (134.03 g/tuber) was obtained in the plot that received 10 t FYM ha−1 + 111 kg N ha−1 + 92 kg P2O5 ha−1 followed by application of (111 kg N ha−1 + 92 kg P2O5 ha−1) inorganic fertilizers (105.5 g tuber−1) which was significantly higher than that control (83.15 g tuber−1). According to Zelalem et al ( 2009), the average tuber weight progressively increased with increasing N rate up to 138 kg/ha and tended to decrease at the highest rate of 207 kg/ha.…”

“…According to Bekele (2018), the combined application of blended NPSZnB fertilizer and cattle manure resulted in a significant reduction in tuber dry matter content and tuber starch content. Mohammed et al (2018 ), the combination of different rates of inorganic fertilizer (N and P) with various levels of farmyard manure (FYM) caused significant differences in tuber dry matter yield.…”

Soil and Water Management Practices as a Strategy to Cope with Climate Change Effects in Smallholder Potato Production in the Eastern Highlands of Ethiopia

“…Despite its importance for household food security and income generation in Ethiopia, the national average yield of the crop is only about 14.17 ton ha −1 [6], which is far less than the world's average of 20.1 ton ha −1 [7]. The major causes of reduced national productivity of potato in Ethiopia are several biological and environmental stress factors, among which low soil fertility and drought are the most significant ones [8][9][10].…”