Abstract:
Shallot (Allium ascalonium L.) is one of the most important cash crops in Ethiopia. The
quality and yield of bulb shallot under farmer’s condition is low because of lack of proper
soil fertility management practices, lack of proper knowledge on optimum amount of nitrogen
and farm yard manure fertilizer application and poor agronomic practices. Therefore this
study was initiated to assess the response of true seed shallot to nitrogen and farmyard
manure application rate on its growth and yield. The current study was conducted at Debre
Markos, Northeast Ethiopia, during 2020/2021croping condition. The study consisted four
levels of nitrogen (0, 100, 150 and 200kg ha
-1
) and five levels of farmyard manure (0, 5, 10,
15 and 20ton ha
-1
). The experiment was laid out in 4x5 factorial combinations in Randomized
Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Data was collected on growth and
yield parameters of central selected plants and analyzed using SAS software. The analysis of
variance revealed that significant variation was observed from fertilizers tested on plant
height, leaf length, leaf number, bulb neck diameter, bulb diameter, bulb weight, total bulb
yield, marketable yield, and unmarketable yield. The highest plant height (71.23cm) was
obtained from combined application of 200kg ha
-1
nitrogen with 20ton ha
-1
farmyard manure
whereas the shortest plant height was recorded from the control. The highest total bulb yield
(32.19tha
-1
) and (32.12tha
-1
) was obtained from combined application of 200kg ha
nitrogen
with 20ton ha
-1
farmyard manure and 150kg ha
-1
with 15ton ha
-1
farmyard manure. Combined
application of 200kg ha
−1
nitrogen with 20ton ha
−1
farmyard manure gave slightly higher
total bulb yield of shallot and 150 kgha
−1
nitrogen with 15ton ha
−1
farmyard manure
although statistically on par. The partial budget analysis suggests that using combination of
150kg ha
-1
nitrogen with 20ton ha
-1
farmyard manure shallot would give better yield.
Therefore, it is suggested as a further line of work in the study area and other areas having
similar agro ecological condition.