Advances in Crop Science and Technology
Open Access

Research Article

Response of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Varieties to Nitrogen and Potassium Fertilizer Rates in Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Egata Shunka^*, Abebe Chindi, Gebremedhin W/giorgis, Ebrahim Seid and Lema Tessema

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Holetta Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia

*Corresponding Author:

Egata Shunka
Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural
Research, Holetta Agricultural Research Center
PO Box 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel: +251931796885
E-mail: egata.shunka2007@yahoo.com

Received date: March 14, 2016; Accepted date: April 19, 2016; Published date: April 22, 2016

Citation: Shunka E, Chindi A, W/giorgis G, Seid E, Tessema L (2016) Response of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Varieties to Nitrogen and Potassium Fertilizer Rates in Central Highlands of Ethiopia. Adv Crop Sci Tech 4:250. doi: 10.4172/2329-8863.1000250

Copyright: © 2016 Shunka E, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Field experiment was conducted at Holetta and Jeldu Agricultural Research Station in the central highlands of Ethiopia to determine the rates of Nitrogen (N) and Potassium (K) fertilizers on growth, yield and yield components of potato. 4 × 3² factorial treatment was arranged in completely randomized block design with three replications on plot size of 3 m × 3 m during 2014-2015 cropping season. Nitrogen (87 kg, 110 kg and 133 kg/ha), Potassium (0, 34.5 kg, 69 kg and 103.5 kg/ha) and potato varieties (Betete, Gudenie and Jalenie) were used. Data were analyzed by using SAS software Version 9.2. The interaction effect of potassium and nitrogen fertilizers did affect marketable tuber number and plant height significantly. Gudenie produced the highest marketable yield (30.53 ton/ha) in 2015 with application of 69 kg/ha potassium and 110 kg/ha nitrogen rates while lowest marketable yield (16.67 ton/ha) was obtained from Belete variety at 0 kg/ha potassium rate and 87 kg/ha nitrogen rate. From these results, it can be concluded that interaction of nitrogen and potassium rates affected significantly plant height and marketable tuber numbers. Therefore, it is better to apply 69 kg/ha potassium and 110 kg/ha nitrogen for potato production to obtain reasonable economic yield at sites similar to experimental locations.

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