Effects of Combined Application of Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers on Growth, Yield and Grain Quality of Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Varieties

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in the highlands of Ethiopia and particularly in Arsi Zone. However, its yield is low due to intensive continuous cultivation, suboptimal fertilizer application and nutrient depletion especially in the highlands of Arsi, Ethiopia. For this reason, an experiment was carried out during the 2017 cropping season at Munesa District, Oromia Seed Enterprise Lole farm to determine the effects of integrated organic and inorganic fertilizers on growth, yield and grain quality of bread wheat. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with factorial arrangement in three replications using two bread wheat varieties (Hidase and Kingbird) as test crop and nine fertilizers combinations (control, 5 tons vermicompost, 10 tons farmyard manure, 0.1t NPS+0.025t UREA, 0.1t DAP+0.025t UREA, 0.05t NPS+0.025t UREA+2.5t VC, 0.05t NPS+0.025t UREA+0.5t FYM, 0.05t DAP+0.025t UREA+0.25t VC, 0.05t DAP+0.025t UREA+ 0.5t FYM). Days to heading and maturity, spike length, plant height, tiller number, spikelet number, biomass yield, grain filling period, grain yield, thousand kernels weight and harvest index were significantly (p<0.001) affected by the effects of varieties and fertilizers. Days to physiological maturity and grain filling were also significantly (p<0.001) influenced by the interaction effects of fertilizers and varieties. Higher growth, yields and quality of wheat were obtained from Hidase as compared to Kingbird variety. Highest yield of bread wheat (6.2t ha-1) was obtained from the combined application of 2.5t VC + 0.05t NPS + 0.025t UREA ha-1 fertilizers; while application of 0.05t DAP+0.025t UREA gave statistically similar yield and yield components with the highest yield. However, grain protein contents and hectoliter weight were only significantly (p<0.001) influenced by combined fertilizer applied. Therefore, it be conclude that combined application of 0.05t NPS + 0.025t UREA + 2.5t VC fertilizers had significantly improved the yields and qualities along better economic returns of wheat and Hidase variety of wheat was superior as compared to Kingbird variety in performances.