EFFECTS OF LIME AND BLENDED FERTILIZER RATE ON YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF BREAD WHEAT (Triticum aestivum L.) IN BASOLIBEN DISTRICT, NORTHWESTERN ETHIOPIA

Bread wheat is an economical important crop for most farmers of Basoliben district. However, the productivity of the crop has been declined from year to year mainly due to the intensity of soil acidity and nutrient depletion. Liming and fertilization has vital role for sustainable crop production. This field experiment was conducted in 2021 main season using factorial combination of five lime rate (0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 t/ha) and three rates of NPSB fertilizer (50, 100 and 150 kg/ha) treatments were laid out in RCBD and replicated three times to determine the optimum application rate. Most crop parameters were highly significantly (p<0.01) affected by main effects of lime and the blended fertilizer but days to heading, number of grains per spikes, grain yield, straw and biomass yield and harvest index were also highly significantly influenced by interaction effect. The delayed matured crop and the longest plant height crops were recorded from maximum application rates while early matured and shortest plant height crop observed from minimum rate. The highest number grains per spike and spike length observed from individual effects of 2 t/ha lime and 150 kg/ha NPSB fertilizer rates. The highest grain yield (5.8 t/ha) recorded from combined 2 t//ha lime and 150 kg/ha NPSB blended fertilizer treatment then followed by the treatment that received combined 3 t/ha lime and 150 NPSB blended fertilizer. However, the highest straw (7.23 t/ha) and biomass (12.86 t/ha) yield was obtained from the combining 3 t/ha lime with150 kg/ha NPSB blended fertilizer but the lowest yields from the control treatment. On the other hand, the economic analysis disclosed that maximum net profit of 110,873 Birr/ha obtained from the treatment received combined 2 t/ha lime and 150 kg/ha NPSB blended fertilizer with acceptable marginal rate of return (27.8%) then followed by dominated treatment (integrated 3 t/ha lime and 150 kg/ha NPSB fertilizer application). Thus, integrated use of 2 t/ha lime with150 kg/ha NPSB blended fertilizer is found optimum for the study area and to the areas with similar agro-ecological conditions. However, as the study of one season, such an investigation has to be repeated over seasons to draw a comprehensive recommendation.