Demonstration and Popularization of CaO-Containing Blended Fertilizers to Ameliorate Acid Soils of East Gojjam Zone, North west Ethiopia

Select Volume / Issue:

• Volume 11, Issue 1, Jan. 2024

Year:

2024

Type of Publication:

Article

Keywords:

Blended Fertilizer Formula, Economic Return, Yield

Authors:

Getinet, Habetamu; Abera, Kasaye

Journal:

IJRAS

Volume:

11

Number:

1

Pages:

1-7

Month:

January

ISSN:

2348-3997

Abstract:

Liming acid soils is one of the best technologies used to amend soil acidity and increase crop production and productivity. However, because the soil is highly degraded (acidic), a huge amount of lime is required to rehabilitate the surface soil and increase the productivity of these acidic soils. This high rate of lime requirement becomes economically and logistically challenging for many subsistence farmers in Ethiopia due to its high cost. Thus, the use of lime containing blended fertilizer remains an alternative technology to ameliorate acidic soils thereby to boost crop production in Ethiopia’s highlands. Afield experiment was conducted on Nitisols of D/Eliase and Basoliben Districts, Northwestern Ethiopia during 2022/23 main cropping season to demonstrate CaO - containing blended fertilizer formulas to amend acidic soils. The treatments were (1) new customized blended fertilizer formulas, (2) compound NPS fertilizer alone and (3) NPS along with lime. The experiment was arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) replicated across farmers’ fields. The collected data was subjected to ANOVA using SAS 9.3 version software. The results revealed that new customized blended fertilizer formulas brought significant effect on grain yield and biomass yield. Moreover, application of new customized blended fertilizer formulas produced the maximum net benefits with acceptable marginal rate of return. Therefore, we can recommend that the newly produced blended fertilizer formulas can be used as an alternative technology to amend acidic soils. But, it needs further to demonstrate/ scale up the result in large scale field.

Full text: IJRAS_1123_FINAL.pdf