On-farm soil fertility management trial on tef

An on-farm soil fertility management trial was conducted on tef at Welmera under farmers' conditions in 1999 and 2000. The trial was conducted on two soil types, namely dimile and dila as classified by the farmers to determine the appropriate fertilizer rate for different soil types with the active participation of the farmers. Farmers in the area classified their soils based on the fertility and drainage condition of the fields. Likewise, they have divided their farmland as kosi, dila, dimile and cheffe in descending order with soil fertility. Because of this, farmers requested for identification of appropriate chemical fertilizer rates that fits to the different soil types. Five levels of Np combinations suggested by farmers were evaluated in RCBD with a replications on 6 farmers' fields in 1999 and with out replication on 8 farmers' fields in 2000. Each farmer was considers as a replication in 2000. Tef varieties DZ-01-354 and DZ-01-2053 were considered in 1999 and 2000, respectively. The experiment was almost entirely managed by the farmers except weeding which the researchers did. The two years result indicated that tef grain and straw yields were responsive to the application of NP. Significant grain yield difference were observed among different rates of NP combinations in both soil types and years. The highest grain and straw yields were obtained from the application of 64-46 and 64-69 N-P subscript of 2 O subscript of 5 kg ha-1 in 1999 and 2000, respectively. Whereas, a rate of 9-23 N-p subscript of 2 O subscript of 5 kg ha-1 gave the lowest grain yield of 192 and 750 kg ha-1 in 1999 and 2000, respectively. This participatory study of soil fertility management has provided insight to the researchers about farmers' experiences and knowledge of soil types as verified by yield differences of dila and dimile soil type. However, no agronomic evidence was obtained from this study that dila and dimile soils required different recommendations.