Abstract:
Anchote (Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn) is an important root crop endemic to Ethiopia. It is a
valuable food source and important economically, medicinally and socially. However, productivity of
the crop is limited by many constraints including absence of recommended rate of fertilizer. Hence, a
field experiment was conducted during 2018/19 cropping season to investigate the response of
anchote variety ( Desta 01) to different rates of NPSB and farm yard manure in terms of growth, yield
and yield components at Jimma south western Ethiopia. The treatments consisted of six rates of
blended (NPSB) (0, 58,116,175,233 and 291 kg ha-1) and three levels of farm yard manure (FYM) (0,
5 and 10 t ha-1). The experiment was laid out as a 3x6 factorial, arranged in randomized complete
block design with three replications. The data were analyzed using SAS (version 9.3) software. The
results revealed that interaction effect of blended (NPSB) and FYM fertilizer significantly (P<0.05)
influenced days to physiological maturity, vine number, vine length, leaf number, vine internodes
length, leaf area, total biomass, total storage root yield, marketable root yield, storage root diameter,
harvest index, dry matter and moisture contents. Emergence percentage and vine number were
significantly (P<0.05) affected by NPSB fertilizer, while leaf area was significantly (P<0.05) affected
by farm yard manure. The main effect of FYM and NPSB highly significantly (P<0.01) affected, days
to physiological maturity, vine number, vine length, leaf number, vine internodes length, leaf area,
total biomass, total storage root yield, marketable root yield, storage root weight, storage root
diameter, harvest index, TDM, ash, TSS, moisture and crude fat. Ash, storage root weight and crude
fat were highly significantly (P<0.01) affected by interaction of NPSB and FRM fertilizer. However,
number of storage root was not significantly affected by main and interaction effects of NPSB blended
fertilizer and FYM. The highest total root yield (29.78t ha-1) was obtained by applying 175 kg ha-1
NPSB bended fertilizers and 10 t ha-1FYM. Correlation analysis showed that most yield parameters
were highly significantly and positively correlated with growth and quality attributes of anchote. In
terms of partial budget analysis, combined application of 175 kg ha-1 bended ( NPSB) with 10 t ha-1
FYM fertilizers provided the highest return of Birr 23532.2 ETB ha-1 with an acceptable and highest
marginal rate of return 337.32%%. In conclusion, the results indicated that the yield and yield
components and quality of Anchote at study area can be improved by the combined application of
blended NPSB fertilizer and FYM. However, further study needs to be conducted in different seasons
and locations by considering rates of blended and FYM fertilizers to generate more reliable
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