Agronomic and Economic Performance of Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Varieties in Response to N-Fertilizer Rate at Lemu-Bilbilo District, Southeastern Ethiopia Volume 9 - Issue 4

Dereje Dobocha Goda*

• Department of Agronomy, Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Ethiopia

Received: July 20, 2021;   Published: July 28, 2021

Corresponding author: Dereje Dobocha Goda, Department of Agronomy, Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Ethiopia

DOI: 10.32474/CIACR.2021.09.000320

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Abstract

Managing N inputs in wheat production systems is a main issue to achieve maximum profitable production, and decreasing environmental impact. To this effect, the experiment was conducted on farmer’s field during the 2017 main cropping season at Lemu-Bilbilo district of Arsi zone, southeastern Ethiopia to determine the response of different rates of N fertilizer and its influence on yield and yield components of bread wheat varieties. Factorial combinations of two bread wheat varieties (Lemu and Wane) and five N- rates (0, 46, 92,138 and 184 kg N ha^-1) were used in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The variety Lemu had higher values for effective tillers per plant, spike length, plant height, and number of grains spike-1, grain and straw yields. On the other hand, Wane variety exhibited greater values for thousand grain weights, and short phenological periods. Application of N significantly prolonged number of days to heading and maturity and grain filling period. Effective tillers, plant height, spike length, straw yield, harvest index and thousand grain weight were consistently increased in response to N rates. The interaction effect of N and variety were significant on days to heading and grain yield. The longest days to heading and the highest grain yield were obtained from 184 kg N ha -1 for both varieties. The highest net benefit was obtained from the application of 184 kg N ha^-1 followed by application of 138 kg N ha- 1, 92 kg N ha^-1 and 46 kg N ha^-1. Application of 46, 92,138 and 184 kg N ha^-1 gave marginal rate of return of 769%, 367%, 326% and 445%, which are well above the minimum acceptable rate of return. Therefore, application of 92 to 184 kg ha^-1 of N with Lemu bread wheat variety were proved to be productive and superior both in grain yield as well as economic advantage and recommended for wheat production in study area.

Keywords:Grain Yield; Bread Wheat Varieties; Nitrogen Fertilizer; Marginal Rate of Return

Abstract| Introduction| Materials And Methods| Data collected| Data Analysis| Economic Analysis| Results and Discussion| Summary and Conclusions| Acknowledgements| Reference|