Author(s): Yonas Mebratu, Cherukuri V Raghavaiah and Habtamu Ashagre
Tef is a highly valued nutritious cereal crop which plays an important role in the diet of Ethiopians. Soil fertility depletion pose a serious threat to tef production in high lands of Ethiopia which are characterised by high rainfall, soil acidity, soil erosion, leaching and the attendant non availability of plant nutrients to the crop. In view of this a field experiment was carried out during 2014/15 cropping season on a field belonging to Hommicho Ammunition Engineering Industry with the objective to evaluate the response of Tef genotypes to integrated nutrient management in terms of productivity and yield components in Guder, Toke kuttai district. The treatments consisted of six levels of integrated nutrient management practices: 1) 0-0-0 (check) 2) 40-60-0 NPK (RDF) 3) 50%RDF+50% N (FYM) 4) 75%RDF+25% N (FYM) 5) 100% RDF+5 t FYM/ha and 6)RDF through new complex fertilizer (19-38-7 NPS) tested on five genotypes (Magna, Simoda, Quncho, Dz-Cr-409, Local variety). The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with factorial arrangement with three replications. The results revealed that there was significant interaction between genotypes and integrated nutrient management practices where in application of 75% RDF+25% FYM and 100% RDF+5 t/ha FYM to genotypes DZ-CR-387 and DZ-01-196 delayed days to flowering and days to maturity, but in other genotypes these were not altered due to fertilizer application. In plant height, variety DZ-CR-385 and DZ-CR-409 responded better to 100%RDF+5 t/ha FYM combination, while DZ-01-196 and local variety was significantly affected over all fertilizer treatments. Significantly higher initial tiller capacity and fertile tiller production were obtained with application of 75% RDF+25% FYM and 100% RDF+5 t/ha FYM. Local variety had significantly higher number of leaves with 100% RDF+5 t/ha FYM followed closely by DZCR- 409 with 75% RDF+25% FYM, and DZ-CR-385 and DZ-CR-387 with 75% RDF+25%FYM. Length of panicle and panicle weight were significantly affected where integrated nutrient management in new varieties DZ-CR-409 and DZ-CR-387 gave higher seed weight with 50%RDF+50% FYM and 75% RDF+25%FYM. There was significant interaction between varieties and integrated nutrient management on grain and straw yield, where DZ-01-196 recorded maximum grain and straw yield with application of 100% RDF+5 t/ha FYM which was comparable with 75%RDF+25% FYM. Therefore application of 50% RDF+50%FYM, 75%RDF+25%FYM and 100% RDF+5 tha-1 to DZ-01-196, DZ-CR-409 and Local varieties of Tef, respectively exhibited best production performance on vertisols of mid high lands of Ethiopia.
