Response of Tef (Eragrostis Tef [Zucc.] Trotter) Yield to Nutrient Omission Under Irrigation at Sekota District, Waghimra Zone, Ethiopia

A decrease in soil fertility has a significant impact on crop production and can impose limitations on overall yield. The experiment was conducted to determine the most yield‐limiting nutrients for tef production in 2020 under irrigation. The experiment was laid out under a completely randomized block design with three replications. It comprises nine treatments, with one treatment of all nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulfur (S), zinc (Zn), and boron (B) applied at the optimum level; other treatments were carried out by sequentially omitting each nutrient from all nutrient treatments. Nitrogen and phosphorus (NP) nutrients and no fertilizer were used as positive and negative controls. The sources of N, P, K, S, Zn, and B nutrients were urea, triple superphosphate, KCl, MgSO 4 , Zn‐EDTA (granular), and borax (granular), respectively. Nitrogen was applied in two splits, half at planting and half at the vegetative stage and the remaining nutrients were applied once during planting. The results showed that the application different nutrient sources have significant effect ( p < 0.001) on the biomass yield (BY) and grain yield (GY)of tef. But the maximum aboveground BY and GY were obtained from the application of the NP nutrients, whereas the lowest GY was recorded from the control (no nutrients). The maximum yield reduction of biomass and grain from the applied nutrient was observed from the omission of N followed by phosphorus nutrients. The addition and omission of other nutrients did not show any yield difference on tef. Therefore, nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients were the most yield‐limiting nutrients at Woleh irrigation scheme.