Maize (Zea mays L.) Productivity as affected by different ratios of fertilizer (blended NPS) and inter row spacing at West Omo, South-West Ethiopia

Abstract

One of the principal food crops in almost all of Ethiopia is maize (Zea mays L.).However, It has very low production when compared to that of Africa and the rest of the world. Because of poor agronomic practices, such as inappropriate row spacing and fertilizer management practice. Therefore, the experiment was conducted during the 2020 main cropping season at Maenit goldia district in South-West Ethiopia to decide the response of maize yield by inter-row spacing and blended NPS fertilizer rats. A factorial combination of 4 levels of blended NPS fertilizer (0, 50,100 and 150 kg) and 3 levels of between row spacing (70, 75 and 80 cm) were laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 3 replications. Data on crop phenology, growth yield components and yield parameter were collected and analyzed using SAS version 9.3 (SAS Institute Inc., 2015). The result of this experiment show that combined use of blended NPS fertilizer and row spacing significantly influence growth and yield and yield components parameters of maize. As the Use of blended NPS fertilizer and row spacing increased the days to tasseling, plant height, ear length, ear diameter and leaf area increased whereas, decreased days to maturity and days to silking. And also use of 150 kg ha-1 of NPS blended fertilizer and row spacing (80 cm) increased number of grain yield, 100 grain weight , above ground biomass and harvesting index by 39.85, 35.20, 32.93 and 35.02%, respectively. Accordingly, it should be noted that, based on an analysis of the partial budget, combinations of the widest row spacing (80 cm) and 150 kg ha-1 of blended NPS fertilizer were promising for maize production in the main cropping season of the Chat Kebele Mea’nit Goldia district and other similar agro-ecologies.