Yield response of common bean to different types and rates of blended fertilizers in Hawassa Zuria Woreda, Southern Ethiopia

Despite the importance of common bean to farmers and its contribution to the national economy, limited information is available on the use of inorganic fertilizers containing macro and micro nutrients for its production in Hawassa area. A trial was conduct to evaluate different fertilizer types containing macro and micro nutrients and to determine their optimum rates for common bean production in Hawassa zuria woreda during the main cropping seasons of 2016 and 2017.Three fertilizer types (NPS, NPSB and NPSBCu) were arranged in different levels and tested on two farms. The experiment consisted of a total of ten treatments: control (no fertilizer) and three levels of each NPS, NPSB and NPSBCu. The treatments were laid out in a randomized complete block design replicated three times. Besides crop parameters, economic analysis was also performed to investigate feasibility of the fertilizers for common bean production. In general, it was observed that application of inorganic fertilizers increased grain yield, where economically feasible treatments improved yield by 34% to 36% over the control plot. The highest net benefit was obtained from NPS at nutrient ratio of 23: 16.5: 7kg/ha with acceptable marginal rate of return of 120%, even under the projected input price, which was sufficient to justify the additional investment needed for this treatment. Similarly, NPSB with 23 kg N + 15.7 kg P + 6.7 kg S + 0.71 kg B/ha also gave the required economic return. Therefore, both treatments could be recommended for common bean production in Hawassa area.