Impacts of Blended NPSB Fertilizers on Growth and Phenology of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam.) at Central Ethiopia

Abstract

Even though, sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L] Lam) is one of the most economically important crops, its production and productivity are very low in Ethiopia. Several factors as lack of know – how about the types, levels of fertilizers supply, and improved potato variety are among few. As a result, such an experiment, which was conducted on the field at Qebena special woreda, Reka-boka kebele for evaluating the effects of four different rates of NPSB fertilizers (0, 75, 150, and 225 kg/ha) on growth and phenology of three orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) varieties (Kebode, Alamora, and Dilla). The experiment was arranged in a 3 × 4 factorial randomized complete block design with three replications. The study revealed that the rates of blended fertilizers NPSB highly significantly influenced the vine number, inter-node length, shoot fresh weight (SFW), shoot dry weight (SDW), and total tuber number/plant. However, the vine number, inter-node length, number of leaves/plant, SFW, and SDW resulted significantly in the highest difference due to the effect of both variety and fertilizer (P < 0.01). Statistically, the highest vine length was obtained from the Dilla variety at 225 kg/ha (282.22). Alamora with 150 kg/ha rates of NPSB fertilizer resulted significantly higher difference in vine number (12.22). Dilla variety at 225 and 150 kg/ha resulted in the highest number of leaves per plant (659.72 and 632.22), respectively. The Dilla variety at 225 kg/ha, which resulted in significantly higher differences in both shot fresh and dry weights (1526.10 and 6466.67 kg/ha). Utilization of such selected OFSP variety with different levels of NPSB fertilizes for further studies needed at different parts of the country to improve. For the best variety and fertilizer responses.