On-farm Verification of the Soil Moisture and Yield Response of Tied Ridge on Maize Production in Dry Areas of Silte Zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia

Abstract

The use of in-situ moisture conservation techniques helps to reduce the runoff rate, nutrient losses from soil and improve the soil moisture and nutrient availability for plant growth which in turn, boost the productivity of land and plants. This study were focused on verification of  open end tied ridge with furrow planting method as in-situ moisture conservation techniques on soil moisture conservation and grain yield of maize in dry land area of sankura woreda, SNNPR. Two treatments namely tied ridge and traditional practices replicated at four farmers field was compared interms of soil moisture conservation and maize grain yield. The result depicted that tied ridge showed 35.8 %   and 27.8% maize grain yield and biomass production advantages over traditional practice respectively. This was directly correlated with 33.7% soil moisture advantage on tied ridge cultivation over traditional practice. Therefore, tied ridge as in-situ moisture conservation is effective measures in storing additional soil water for the next cropping season as compared to traditional practice. It is recommended that, the practice should be demonstrated and scaled up in the study area and at similar agro-ecology across in the region.

Keywords: Soil moisture, Tied ridge, maize yield