Soil fertility in Ethiopia has historically been constrained by the lack of an integrated and locally-tailored approach, despite apparent success in individual programs. The experiment has been made at Borodo watershed in the central highland of Ethiopia to evaluate soil fertility through integrated management of available organic and inorganic nutrient sources. Major crops in the watershed, teff (Eragrostis tef) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were used with 4 different treatments, negative control(No fertilizer and compost),NP(Nitrogen and Phosphorus fertilizers), compost, NP and compost replicated four times in a random complete block design. The experiment was analyzed using SAS software. The result shows that there is a significant difference in terms of yield between treatments. The application of inorganic fertilizer alone was significantly superior in yield and plant height. Although, result showed that use of inorganic fertilizer is superior for teff and wheat yield, the alarming cost of fertilizer constrain farmers in using inorganic fertilizers. Moreover, use of inorganic fertilizer devastates the soil fauna and flora. Hence integration of organic and inorganic fertilizer is essential for sustainable intensification in the study area. We also conclude that full packages of integrated soil fertility technologies should be developed considering different agro-ecologies of the country.
Key Words: Organic fertilizer, Inorganic fertilizer, Teff, Wheat, Yield
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