EFFECT OF NPS FERTILIZER RATES ON YIELD RELATED TRAITE, YIELD AND GRAIN PROTEIN OF BREAD WHEAT (Triticum aestivum L.) VARIETIES AT HARAMAYA, EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Use of appropriate verities and balanced fertilizer recommendation are important agronomic practices used to increase the productivity and quality of bread wheat. Hence, field experiment was carried out to assess the effect of NPS fertilizer rates on yield related traits, yield and grain protein of bread wheat varieties and to determine economically feasible NPS fertilizer rate for bread wheat production. The treatments consisted of five levels of NPS (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1) and three bread wheat varieties ( Hidase, Jalane and Kakaba). The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design in a factorial arrangement with three replications. All of the plots were supplemented uniformly with 46 kg N ha-1 in the form of urea. The main effect of NPS and variety significantly affected all agronomic and quality parameters. Variety Jalane gave the longest spike length (9.66cm), highest thousand kernel weight (40.88 g), kernels per spike (42.17), grain yield (3707kg ha1), harvest index (35.18%), hectoliter weight(78.5kg/hl) and grain protein content (13.73%); whereas variety Hidase scored the tallest plant (90.84 cm), highest biomass yield (11781kgha-1) and straw yield (8683 kg ha-1) . Similarly, the main effect of NPS rate showed significant difference on all agronomic and quality parameters except hectoliter weight. Significantly the longest days to heading (67 days), tallest plant height (89.9 cm) and longest spike length (7.4 cm); highest number of kernels per spike (43.7), number of total tillers (549.5), number of productive tillers (486.6), thousand kernels weight (37.3 g ), grain yield ( 3584 kg ha1), biomass yield (11183 kg ha1 ), straw yield (7774 kg ha1 ), grain protein content (13.67%) and harvest index (32.2%) at the highest (200 kg NPS ha1) NPS rate. The result of economic analysis showed that applications of 150 kg NPS ha-1 on variety Jalane gave the highest net return of 41148.49 birr ha-1 with MRR of 457.55%. Therefore, the use of 150 kg NPS for Jalane variety can be recommended for production of bread wheat in the study area