Effect of NPK Blended Fertilizer Rates on Growth and Yield Attributes of Finger Millet Varieties Grown in Acidic Soil of Western Kenya
Journal Title: Archives of Current Research International - Year 2017, Vol 11, Issue 4
Abstract
Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L) is the staple food among the population of Africa and Asia that supplies a major portion of calories and protein and has a wide range of adaptability to abiotic and biotic stresses and therefore it is for this reason that it is being popularized to curb food insecurity and climate change. It is important to optimize nutrient management practices and other related factors affecting finger millet cultivation in order to attain better yields under the comparatively marginal local growing conditions. Therefore, an experiment was conducted at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) Kakamega crops field station for two seasons in 2015 and 2016 to evaluate the influence of NPK blended fertilizer rates on growth and yield components of finger millet under acidic conditions. NPK blended fertilizer has a combination of macro nutrients and micronutrients, (10%N, 26%P2O5, 10%K2O, 4%S, 8%CaO, 4%MgO and traces of B, Zn, Mo, Cu, and Mn) making it unique to this acidic soil conditions. The design was randomized complete block design, with 0,25,50,75,100 kg application rates per acre of NPK blended fertilizer as the treatments applied in two equal split application and two finger millet varieties (P-224 and Gulu-E). The period to 50% flowering was significantly reduced due to the application of NPK blended fertilizer where Gulu-E had 80 days at the highest rate while P-224 had 81 days on the same rate during the long rainy season. At 50 kg/acre, the number of days to physiological maturity were significantly reduced under both varieties where Gulu-E took 107 days to mature during the long rainy season. The number of productive tillers was increased with increasing NPK blended fertilizer application rate especially under Gulu-E variety with a high number of 42 productive tillers per plot. The grain yield was significantly increased by application of NPK blended fertilizer with the peak observed at the 75 kg/acre rate for both varieties but Gulu-E outperformed P-224 for both seasons. The study concludes that application rate of 75 kg/acre of NPK blended fertilizer leads to the highest grain yield potential of finger millet and has great liming effects that ultimately reduces the acidity of soils in the western Kenya region.
Authors and Affiliations
Dennis Simiyu Wamalwa, Godfrey Netondo, Phoebe Sikuku
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP320201
- DOI 10.9734/ACRI/2017/38838
- Views 58
- Downloads 0
Temporal Variation of Reference Evapotranspiration in Lower River Kaduna Catchment Area, Nigeria
Lower River Kaduna catchment area is located in north part of Nigeria where climate variability is pronounce such as high rainfall which result to drought, ground water scarcity and high surface water to evaporation. As...
Computation of Energy Dispersion Relation for an Electron in a one Dimensional Periodic Potential Using Intel Visual Fortran 17.0 Update 3 for Windows
Aims: To calculate the time independent Schrӧdinger’s equation for an electron in a one dimensional periodic potential so as to obtain the eigenvalues of the energy. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Physics, Ba...
Comparative Evaluation of Various Empirical Methods for Estimating Groundwater Recharge
Information on groundwater recharge is essential for sustainable groundwater resources management. Estimation of recharge, by any method is normally subject to large uncertainties and errors. In this paper, various empir...
Organisational Development and Institutional Strengthening (ODIS) of Planning and Programming Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (PPD-MOANR)
The study is primarily aimed to help improve PPD to enhance its functional linkages and working relationships with other MoANR units and regional bureaus of agriculture. The study conducted from February 2017 to March 20...
Survival Analysis of Time to Cardiovascular Disease Complication of Hypertensive Patients at Felege Hiwot Referal Hospital in Bahir-Dar, Ethiopia: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Background: Cardiovascular disease complication is the current issue throughout the world. Objective of the Study: The aim of this study was to analyze the major risk factors which lead to cardiovascular disease complica...