Yield and economics of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) as affected by blended NPS fertilizer rates and inter row spacing at maenitgoldia, Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

The common bean is one of Ethiopia's most economically important legumes. However, its national average yield remains lower than the potential yield obtained at research stations. This is because of low soil fertility, inappropriate plant spacing, disease and insect pest problems. As a result, this experiment was carried out during the 2021 to investigate the impact of blended NPS fertilizer rates and spacing between crops on the growth and yield of common bean and to analyze the economic feasibility of blended NPS rates with common bean spacing. A four-factorial combination of mixed NPS levels (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg ha^-1) and three row spacing (30, 40, and 50 cm) were used in a three-replicate randomized complete block design. After collecting plant phenology, growth, yield, and yield attribute parameters were analyzed by using SAS version 9.3 software. The results revealed significant differences for the main effect of the NPS blended fertilizer, row spacings, and their interaction on most of the measured phenological, growth, yield, and yield attributes of the common bean, however, neither the main effect nor the interaction effects affected seedling emergence. The combined use of 150 kg of mixed NPS ha^-1 with a row spacing of 40 cm resulted in a higher grain yield (2.5 t ha^-1) and maximum net benefit (41775 ETB ha^-1). Hence, it can be established that earlier mentioned NPS fertilizer rate and row spacing isa better choice for farmers in the area and similar agro-ecologies in order to achieve the highest possible grain yield and a higher net return.