Abstract:
Potato is one of the most important food security and cash crops in Ethiopia. However, its
productivity is very low in the country mainly due to soil fertility among other factors. Therefore,
a study was conducted to assess the effect of nitrogen rates on yield and yield components of
potato varieties. The experiment was conducted in 2018/19 under irrigation at Debark district,
Northwest Ethiopia. The treatments consisted of a factorial combinations of four nitrogen levels
(0, 55, 110 and 165 kg N ha
-1
) and three potato varieties (Belete, Gudne and local), which was
laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. All yield and yield
related traits were significantly influenced by the main effects of varieties and N rate except
number of stem hill
-1
and harvest index was not significantly influenced by N rate. On the other
hand, the interaction effects of varieties and N rate was not significant on all measured
parameters of the crop. The highest marketable tuber yields was obtained in response to the
application of 110 kg N ha
-1
(30.7 t ha
-1
) and Belete variety (29.8 t ha
-1
), while, the lowest
marketable yields of 16.5 and 17.5 t ha
-1
were obtained in response to the unfertilized treatment
and from local variety, respectively. The partial budget analysis revealed that application of 110
kg N ha
-1
and Belete variety resulted in the maximum net benefits of (195233.9 ETB ha
-1
) with
marginal rate of return (5097%) greater than minimum requirement (100%). Therefore, it is
tentatively recommended to production of Belete variety with 110 kg N ha
-1
at Debark district and
in other areas having similar agro-ecology. Since it is one season experiment, one season
additional observation of this research may be needed for concrete recommendation
