Effects of Blended Fertilizer Rates on Bread Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) Varieties on Growth and Yield Attributes

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important food crop and source of income for farmers at Tiyo district in Eastern Arsi, Ethiopia. Field experiment was conducted at Tiyo district on farmer's field in 2018 main cropping season to evaluate response of bread wheat varieties to blended (NPSB) fertilizer rates. Factorial combination of two improved bread wheat varieties (Wane and Kingbird) and eight treatments [Control, Recommended NP (150 kg ha-1 TSP (69%P2O5 ) + 158.7 kg ha-1 Urea (73 N)), 100 kg NPSB (18.1N + 36.1P2O5 + 6.7S + 0.71B), 100 kg NPSB + recommended urea (46 kg N) , 150 kg NPSB + recommended urea, 200 kg NPSB + recommended urea, 250 kg NPSB + recommended urea, 300 kg NPSB + recommended urea.] were laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Results revealed seedling density, plant height, and harvest index were significantly affected by the main effect of fertilizer rate. Days to heading, days to maturity, spike length, seeds per spike, thousand kernel weight and straw yield were significantly affected by the main effect of varieties and fertilizers rates. Grain yield, aboveground dry biomass and number of productive tillers were significantly affected by the interaction effect of varieties and fertilizer rates. The highest seeds per spike (53.9 ), thousand kernel weight (37.3 g), and straw yield (9071.7 kg ha-1) were recorded from 300 kg NPSB ha-1 application along supplementary urea. Higher grain yield was harvested from Wane (4236 kg ha-1) variety at 300 kg NPSB ha-1 fertilizer rate. Therefore, application of NPSB at the rate of 300 kg NPSB ha-1 in the production of Wane and 200 NPSB kg ha-1 in the production of Kingbird varieties was economically beneficial and recommended for around Kulumsa area. Keywords: Blended fertilizers; economic benefit; yield; main effect DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/9-15-01 Publication date: August 31st 2019