Soil Moisture Response to Short-Term Inorganic Fertilization on Tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) Crop Varieties in Northern Ethiopia

Table 4

Combined effects of N + P fertilizer rates with tef crop varieties on soil moisture content (SMC) determined at the different growth stages (sampling dates) in the 2012 cropping season in the Dura area, northern Ethiopia.

Treatment	SMC by sampling date (days after sowing time, DAS)						Average^#	Significance^¶
	0 DAS	33 DAS	49 DAS	64 DAS	84 DAS	120 DAS
F1V1	30 a	53 b	44 bc	35 b	25 bc	15 c	34 b
F1V2	29 a	50 d	39 f	30 e	21 de	13 cd	31 cd
F1V3	29 a	55 a	47 a	39 a	29 a	18 a	37 a
F2V1	30 a	51 cd	42 cd	32 d	22 cd	13 de	32 bc
F2V2	30 a	48 e	37 g	27 f	19 f	11 fg	29 e
F2V3	30 a	53 b	44 b	35 b	26 b	16 bc	34 b
F3V1	29 a	48 de	40 ef	30 e	20 ef	10 g	30 de
F3V2	30 a	45 f	35 h	25g	17 g	7 ij	27 f
F3V3	30 a	51 cd	43 c	33 cd	24 c	12 ef	32 bc
F4V1	29 a	45 f	37 g	27 f	17 g	8 hi	27 f
F4V2	29 a	42 g	33 i	22 h	14 h	6 j	24 g
F4V3	29 a	48 e	40 ef	30 e	20 ef	10 g	30 de

Values within a column with different letters are significantly different at the probability level (P) ≤ 0.05. Significant at ; significant at . ^#Mean of all sampling dates for each of the treatment combined effects. ^¶Significant level tested for the combined effects on SMC determined across the sampling dates. F, fertilizer rate: F1, 0 N + 0 P; F2, 21 N + 10 P; F3, 41 N + 20 P; F4, 64 N + 25 P; V, tef varieties: V1, Sergen; V2, DZ-cr-387 or Kuncho; V3, Keyih; FV, interaction (combined) effects of fertilizer with variety.