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| dc.contributor.author | Gebru, Mekonnen | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-09-01T10:05:26Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-09-01T10:05:26Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-08 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/17214 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Sustainability of natural resources and agricultural production in the world has been challenged by fast population growth, urbanization, and climate change that results degradation, scarcity, and reduced agricultural land and water productivity. Proper management of scarce natural resources is essential to sustain life of the future generation. Among those management practices, the use of improved and sustainable nutrient and water management technologies and climate resilient crops should be given due considerations. Specifically, an expansion of tef, which has wide ecological adaptation, with multiple benefits both for the producers and consumers under rainfed and irrigation production system will play a positive role. However, lodging, low fertilizer input, extreme drought, and lack of adequate seeds of improved varieties have contributed to the reduction of tef productivity in Ethiopia. Therefore, the overall objective of this research was designed to optimize the nutrient and water management practices for sustainable enhancement of tef productivity in the northwestern. The study was conducted at Koga Irrigation Scheme, north-western Ethiopia with three specific objectives of assessing: 1) the yield and lodging responses of tef varieties to the application of nitrogen and silicon supplement, 2) the productivity and lodging responses of tef to varying soil moisture content and silicon supplement, and 3) the effect of soil amendments and carbonized rice husk application timing on lodging responses, water use efficiency and productivity of irrigated tef. For the first objective a 4×2×2 factorial field experiment was conducted in randomized complete Block design on fixed experimental plot for two consecutive dry season with four nitrogen levels: 0, 23, 46, and 92 kg N ha-1, two Si levels in the form of carbonized rice husk (CRH): 0 and 485 kg ha-1, and two improved varieties: Hiber-1 and Quncho treatment combinations, which were replicated four times. For the second objective a 4*4 factorial experiment with four soil moisture depletion levels [20% (no water stress), 35%, 55%, and 75%] and four levels of silicon in the form of carbonized rice husk (0, 291, 582, and 873 kg ha-1) laid out in a split-plot design with four replications. For the third objective a total of 16 treatment combinations of four levels of CRH application timing and soil amendments: compost, lime and their combination were used and laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications. To test the effect of treatments of each experiment, data on physiological growth, yield, and economic parameters of tef were collected, which could vary across the experiment. R-Software was deployed to analyze the data with appropriate packages specifically designed to the experimental design (RCBD or Split-plot designs). The result showed that interaction of nitrogen, silicon, and variety significantly (p<.001) affected lodging index, with a minimum lodging index of 0% from Heber-1 variety without silicon and nitrogen and a maximum lodging index (71.9%) from Quncho without silicon and kg ha-1 application. The highest net return of 2552.61 USD was obtained from Hiber-1 with 92 kg N ha-1 without silicon application, while the highest marginal rate of return (2668.4%) was found from the same variety with 23 kg N ha-1 without silicon addition. The lowest LI (19.7%) was obtained from the application of 873 kg CRH ha-1, followed by 20.6% from 582 kg CRH ha-1 in 2022. The pooled mean analysis result showed that, though there was no significant difference in yield, tef irrigated at 55% moisture depletion level provided a maximum HI of 33.8%, which was 6.21% more than the control. An increased level of lodging resistance was also obtained from 55% moisture depletion level with a LI of 31.9%, which was next to 75% moisture depletion level with 582 kg ha-1 carbonized rice husk. Half split application of carbonized rice husk during sowing and tillering showed an improvement of leaf chlorophyll content by 8.1% during the initial, development and mid-season stages. Application of Compost+Lime significantly improved tef grain, above-ground biomass and straw yields by 12.1, 14.5, and 15.2% compared to lime, and 12.3, 9.3, and 8.4% compared to the control treatment, respectively, but it increased sensitivity to lodging. The authors suggested that the research on lodging response of tef to silicon from different fertilizer sources should further be verified for across locations for wide application. | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.subject | Agronomy | en_US |
| dc.title | Water and Nutrient Management Technologies for Sustainable Enhancement of Tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc) Trotter) Productivity under Irrigation in Northwest Ethiopia | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
