Demonstration of Blended Fertilizer (NPSZnB) Along with Rhizobium Inoculation on Faba Bean in Tahitay and Laelay Maichew Districts, Tigray, Ethiopia

Due to low application of inputs and poor agronomic practices with improved varieties, the productivity of faba bean has continued to be low in the central zone of Tigray despite its potential. To address of, low productivity, a demonstration was initiated to showcase the blended NPSZnB (125 kgha-1) along with Rhizobium inoculation (500 g EAL-110 ha-1) at the its appropriate rate in the farmers’ field. The experiments was involved 36 farmers selected from Laelay and Tahitay Maychew districts based on their willingness to adopt the practice and used the improved seed “Hachalu” for both, the experimental and the control plots. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the required data at various stages and the data were analyzed using descriptive analysis methods. The results showed that the average yield of Hachalu variety was 3.1024 tons ha-1 in on the use of NPSZnB and bio-fertilizer compared to yield of the control plot (2.25 ton ha-1). Similarly, The study shows that the perception of the respondents’ had good perception (preferred by farmers) for most of the faba bean attributes like vegetative, resistance to disease and pest, pod size, seed yield improvement, and final profitability of the practice with an average mean score of 3.33 which is higher than the mean agreement level mean score (3). Therefore, the application of blended fertilizer with inoculant for faba bean needs to be popularized in the faba bean growing potential areas and it is better to involved stakeholders for facilitating adoption the practice.