On‐farm seed priming and fertilizer micro‐dosing: Agronomic and economic responses of maize in semi‐arid Ethiopia

Abstract

On‐farm seed priming has been reported to improve emergence, crop establishment, and yield besides improving economic benefits in dryland agriculture. These benefits can further be improved by fertilizer micro‐dosing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of on‐farm seed priming and fertilizer micro‐dosing on the agronomic and economic returns of maize (Zea mays L. var. Melkassa‐2) in semi‐arid agro‐ecological conditions in Ethiopia. The experiments consisted of four treatments: no priming and no fertilizer; no priming and fertilizer; priming and no fertilizer; and priming and fertilizer. The experiments were conducted in three locations viz., Melkassa, Ziway, and Hawassa in the central Rift Valley. Analysis of variance for each location was performed separately at p ˂ .05. Results of each location were similar over the experimentation years, and hence, there was no need for carrying out combined analysis. Regardless of fertilization, primed plants showed faster emergence; better uniform crop stands; more vigorous plants; earlier flowering; earlier harvest; and higher grain and stover yield than no primed plants. Germination was 2–3 days earlier, and flowering and maturation of primed plants were 10 to 13 days earlier than no primed plants. Average grain yield increased by 11, 8, and 6% in Melkassa, Ziway, and Hawassa, respectively, by priming over no priming. Fertilizer micro‐dosing combined with priming further improved most of the agronomic characters. Fertilizer micro‐dosing combined with priming increased the average grain yield by 75, 69, and 33% in Melkassa, Ziway, and Hawassa, respectively. The economic returns also increased in the same pattern as the agronomic responses for priming, micro‐dosing or their combination. To realize the potential of seed priming of increasing agronomic performances, future research and development efforts should focus on understanding the possible underling physiological and biochemical basis of this poorly understood process with the different priming techniques.

Combined effect of fertilizer micro-dosing and intercropped millet/cowpea effect on agronomic and economic advantages in prone Sahel area, Niger

“…The gains in yields and efficient use of land in the millet /cowpea intercropped compared to their reference in sole crop clearly showed the advantage of intercropping with LER values greater than 1 with or without the microdose. Similar results were obtained by [32,41] in the maize/cowpea intercropped. Intercropping is more beneficial and profitable when the resources of the environment are exploited to the maximum by the intercropping crops.…”

“…In intercropping, cowpea genotypes grain yields are low compared to sole crop both in fertilizer and control treatment the two years contrary to the trends observed with millet. This could be explained by the simultaneous sowing as observed by [32], which obtained a reduction of cowpea yield in the same date intercrop with maize by between 20 and 63%.…”

“…In both years, the results indicated that there was no significant effect of cowpea genotype on grain yields, biomass, and thousand-grain weight of millet both (Table 3). The small yield penalty in maize-cowpea intercropping has been reported by [32]. This can be explained according to [33], by the absence of interspecific competition for the two species having different growth habits.…”

Analysis of labor opportunity cost on the economic profitability of fertilizer microdosing (FM) in Burkina Faso

“…From the analysis of Figures 3 and 4, fertilizer microdosing was found to be a more labor-intensive technology than recommended dose. That is consistent with the findings of some studies, which highlighted that fertilizer microdosing application needs additional labor (Pender al., 2008;Sime and Aune, 2019). By contrast, in Niger, Liverpool-Tassie et al (2015) found that fertilizer mixed with seed is more labor-intensive than fertilizer microdosing.…”

Micronutrient seed priming improves maize (Zea mays) early seedling growth in a micronutrient deficient soil

“…(2020) demonstrated that Fe seed priming was the most effective method in improving the grain yield and benefit-cost ratio in conventional and zero tillage systems in comparison to soil and foliar application. Likewise, Sime and Aune (2019) reported improved agronomic performances and economic returns in maize production after combining seed priming and fertilizer micro-dosing in Ethiopia.…”