Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizer Levels and Row Spacing on Yield and Yield Components of Upland Rice Varieties in Pawe, Northwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

Rice (Oryza species) is a major cereal crop in Pawe area. However the yield of the crop is low due to lack of site specific row spacing and fertilizer recommendation. Hence, a field experiment was conducted in Pawe Agricultural Research center during the rainy season of 2016 to assess the effect of row spacing and nitrogen fertilizer level on grain yield and yield component and to determine their economic feasibility on up-land rice varieties under rain-fed conditions. Two varieties (NERICA-4 and Pawe-1), three row spacing (RS) (20, 25 and 30 cm) and four N levels (0, 32, 64 and 96 kg ha^-1) were laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design in factorial combination with three replications. Among the main treatment, variety NERICA-4 showed significantly taller plant height and panicle length. Interaction effect of variety, RS and N levels highly significantly (P<0.01) affected the number of total tiller m^-2(NTT), fertile tiller 0.5 m^-2 row length (FT), thousand kernels weight (TKW), above ground dry biomass yield, straw yield (STY) and harvest index, and significantly (P<0.05) affected grain yield (GY) ha^-1. The highest (420.0 m^-2) NTT was found by variety NERICA-4 at 20 cm RS and 96 kg N ha^-1. The highest GY (6462.56 kg ha^-1) was obtained by variety NERICA-4 at RS 20cm and 96 kg N ha^-1 and the lowest GY (1935.5 kg ha^-1) was obtained by variety Pawe-1 at RS 30 cm and no N input. The highest STY (8477.2 kg ha^-1) was produced by variety Pawe-1 at 20 cm RS and 96 kg N ha^-1. The attractive net benefit (32,063.8 birr ha^-1) with acceptable marginal rate of return (453.4%) for farmers in Pawe was found from variety NERICA-4 interacts with RS 20 cm and 96 kg N ha^-1.

Keywords: - Biomass Yield, Grain Yield, Interaction effect, NERICA-4, Net benefit.

DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-7-03

Publication date: April 30^th 2021