Performance of Selected Carrot Varieties as Influenced by NPS Fertilizer in North Shewa Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

Inappropriate application rates of fertilizer and lack of evaluation of improved carrot (Daucus carota L.) varieties are the bottlenecks of carrot production in the study area. Thus, the current study has been designed to evaluate the adaptability as well as select high yielding carrot varieties and assess the optimum rates of NPS fertilizer to increase production and productivity of the carrot. The study was conducted under irrigation during the year 2023 at Debralibanos and Girarjarso districts of North Shewa zone, Ethiopia. Three carrot varieties (Haramay I, Nantes and Holland) and 5 levels of NPS fertilizer (150, 125, 100, 75, 0 kg ha–1) were used. The results of the study showed that NPS fertilizer had highly significant (P < 0.01) effect on leaf number per plant, plant height, root weight, marketable yield and gross yield at both districts. However, both the main factors did not significantly affect root length, root diameter along with unmarketable yield at both districts. The tallest plant (46.21, 46.89 cm), the highest root weight per plant (81.39, 79.97 g) and the highest (40.69, 39.98 t ha–1) gross yield were obtained from the plant, which received 150 kg ha–1 NPS fertilizer at Girarjarso and Debralibanos districts, respectively. It has been concluded that using 150 kg ha–1 NPS fertil- izer is the most practical strategy to address the low carrot productivity in the research region and this yielded a high carrot output; so that, 150 kg ha–1 NPS fertilizer could be recommend for carrot producers in the study area and similar environments