Growth, Phenology and Yield Component of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Genotypes as Affected by Fertilizer Types Under Acidic Soil

Abstract

Field experiment was conducted on acidic soil of Hagereselam, southern Ethiopiain 2019 cropping season to evaluate the growth and yield component formation performance of barley genotypes under different inorganic fertilizer types. Treatment consisting of four fertilizer types (control, NP, NPS and NPSB) and four barley genotypes (217176b, 240478, 234911b and 208855b) and one barley variety (HB- 1307) as a check laid out using a Randomized Complete Block Design with factorial arrangement with three replications Both main and interaction effects influenced days to physiological maturity, plant height, number of effective tillers m-2. However, days to heading, spike length, number of grain per spike and1000 grain weight, were only affected by main effects. Barley Genotype 217176b with NPSB fertilizer exhibited the longest plant height and better performance with regard to the remaining measured parameters. However, it did not significantly differ for the same parameters from the same genotype under NP and genotype 240478 with NPSB fertilizer application. The lowest performances were recorded from genotype 208855b with no fertilizer application. Given the fact that the performance of growth, phenology and yield components between the two genotypes in combinations either with NPSB or NP is not statistically significant, either of the two genotypes with the NPSB or NP fertilizer is very essential for appropriate production of barley under acidic soils of Hagereselam and acidic soils of similar agro-ecologies in the highlands of Ethiopia.