Response of Food Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Varieties to Rates of Nitrogen Fertilizer in Limo District, Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Barley is an important food crop in the highlands of Ethiopia. However, its productivity is constrained by a number of problems. Among these inadequate uses of N fertilizer and lack of using improved food barley variety are the most important ones. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted in Limo district, Southern Ethiopia with the objective of evaluating vegetative growth, yield and yield components of three food barley varieties (Local variety (Darshina), HB 1307 and EH 1493) using four different rates of nitrogen fertilizer application (0, 23, 46, and 69 N kg ha^-1). The experiment was laid out as a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with factorial combinations and replicated three times. Data were collected on days to 50% emergence and heading, days to 90% maturity, plant height, spike length, number of total and fertile tillers per m², biomass yield, straw yield, grain yield, thousand kernel weight and harvest index. The data were subjected to statistical analysis using SAS and mean differences were compared using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT). The analysis of variance showed that growth, yield and yield components of all varieties increased across the increasing rate of the nitrogen fertilizer. The results also revealed that rate of nitrogen on food barley varieties had highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) effect on all the characters whereas grain yield, total and fertile tillers per m² was significantly affected by both main and interaction effect except days to 50% emergence which was only significantly affected by barley varieties. The maximum grain yield (4.51 t ha^-1) was obtained from variety EH 1493 at the rate of 69 kg N ha^-1. However, statistically similar result was recorded from the 46 kg N ha^-1 and the minimum (1.42 t ha^-1) grain yield was obtained from variety HB1307 at nil rate of nitrogen application. The highest economic net return (Birr 32001 ha^-1) with acceptable marginal rate of return (MRR) was obtained from variety EH 1493 at rate of 69 kg ha^-1 nitrogen, thus this can be suggested as effective to maximize productivity of barley. However, to make reliable and acceptable recommendation similar experiment has to be repeated over locations and seasons of the district with the inclusion of more nitrogen rates and varieties.

Keywords: Food barley, grain yield, nitrogen fertilizer