Abstract:
Soybean is the most important leguminous crop in Ethiopia. However, its national
productivity particularly in the Northwest Ethiopia is lower than that of worlds’ productivity
due to lack of appropriate agronomic practices mainly application of unbalanced fertilizer
and using of inappropriate soybean varieties. Hence, a field experiment was carried out in
2020 cropping season at Guangua district, Northwest Ethiopia to determine the effect of
blended NPSZnB fertilizer rates and soybean varieties on the yield, yield components and
seed quality of soybean. Five levels of blended NPSZnB fertilizer (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg
ha-1
) and three soybean varieties (Pawe-01, Pawe-02 and Pawe-03) were arranged in
factorial and laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Data on
soybean agronomic attributes and soybean seed quality were collected and analysed using
SAS software. The result of this study revealed that the most phenological growth, yield, yield
components and quality traits of soybean were significantly affected by varieties, blended
fertilizer rates and their interaction effect. Planting variety pawe 03 with the application of
100 kg NPSZnB ha-1
gave the highest (2876.98 kg ha-1) grain yield and protein content
(41.5%). However, the maximum (24.5%) oil content was recorded when variety pawe 01
was planted with the application of 100 kg NPSZnB ha-1
. Indeed, the partial budget analysis
showed that variety pawe 03 gave the highest net benefit of 74953.56 birr ha-1
at the rate of
100 kg NPSZnB ha-1
. In conclusion, planting soybean variety of pawe 03 with the application
of 100 kg NPSZnB ha-1
had significantly highest productivity and profitability of soybean
and recommended for soybean production in Guangua District and similar agro ecological
areas. However, the experiment was conducted for one year and in turn should be conducted
in more than two years under different agro ecologies to come up with workable
recommendation.