#yield.

Abstract

Low yields due to declining soil fertility continue to be a major constraint to onion production in Kenya, necessitating imports to meet market demand. A field experiment was carried out for two seasons in West Ugenya Sub-County during the 2015 and 2016 short and long rains seasons, respectively to evaluate the effect of combining organic and inorganic fertilizers on the soil nutrient status, growing period and yield of bulb onion (Allium cepa L.). The experiment was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Treatments, each replicated three times were: T1 (5Mega grams ha-1 cattle manure), T2 (46kg P ha-1 x 26kg N ha-1 inorganic fertilizers), T3 (unfertilized control), and T4 (half T1 x half T2) were evaluated. Data from T1 and T4 at the end of the two growing seasons showed significantly (P≤0.05) higher mean yields compared to the control with highest bulb yield (25.2Mg ha-1) recorded in T4. Also, significantly (P≤0.05) higher soil available P and total organic carbon was recorded in T4 at the end of season II compared to the other treatments in the same season. Seasonal variation in rainfall amount led to considerably lower yields in the short rains (season II), compared to long rains (season I). Observed data concluded that onion yields could be significantly increased by combining organic and inorganic fertilizers at the rates of 2.5Mgha1 cattle manure containing 2% N, 0.6% P and 2.3% K, with 23kg P ha-1 x 13kg N ha1 inorganic fertilizers.

Introduction

The bulb onion (Allium cepa L.) is adapted to growing in different agro-ecological zones (Nguthi et al., 1994) and prefer medium textured soils with a pH range of 6-7 (Muendo and Tschirley, 2004), optimal germination soil temperature of 15 - 25°C (Jaetzold et al., 2009), and can be established either by direct seeding or seedling transplanting (Muvea et al., 2014). Although onion has been grown in Kenya over a long time, production per land area is still low at a national average of 15Mgha-1 compared to Korea (67Mgha-1), Spain (54 Mgha-1), Egypt (36Mgha-1), Ghana (17Mgha-1) and Ethiopia (10Mgha-1) (FAOSTAT, 2012). In most parts of Kenya just like in the study area of West Ugenya sub-county, onion is mainly grown at small scale level, and soil fertility decline through nutrient mining and degradation is the main challenge to increased yields (Mango, 1999; Jaetzold et al., 2009; Okalebo et al., 2005), alongside post harvest losses (AFFA, 2016; USAID, 2012), and pests and disease (Muvea et al., 2014).

Combined use of organic and inorganic fertilizers has been proposed as a solution to reverse poor soil health and low crop yields (Vanlauwe et al., 2002; Sanginga and Woomer, 2009; Vanlauwe et al., 2015; Ruganzu et al., 2015). For instance onion yields resulting from combined use of organic and inorganic fertilizers in a field experiment in India were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased by 77% compared to no fertilizer input, and up to 45% higher yields than sole inorganic fertilizers application (Rai et al., 2016). This study was thus premised on the need to increase onion production in Kenya to meet growing demand through integrated soil fertility management and raise income to the local farmers.

315 Watt Cannabis Grow Yield

This is part of our 3 light test grow series on growing medical cannabis indoors. In this video we take a closer look at the 315 watt Endomaxx ballast with the ceramic metal halide 315 watt Philips bulb, how did it performed in my medical cannabis garden ? How Much Does One Congolese Marijuana Plant Produce with 315 watts ? Grow Your Own Grow In Peace :)

How Much Cannabis (Marijuana) Can One Plant Yield?

Not enough info? Read the video description for extra info & also see my episode on the Gram/Watt ratio and Wet Vs Dry weight to learn more about yields: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB2UI4ODvh8 My HID light-bulbs overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oExTMCRihgA Get the 596-page Cannabis encyclopedia http://amzn.to/1XVdn0O Be sure to hit me up on Facebook:…