ABSTRACTSorghum (sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is an important staple food grain that is grown among smallholder farmers. The yield is low due to inherent low soil fertility because resource poor farmers apply little to no fertilizer to their land due to economic and social factors. The objective of the study was to provide recommendations for optimizing yield and profit from fertilizer use for financially constrained and smallholder sorghum farmers. The treatments consisted of five levels of inorganic N fertilizer (0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 kg N ha-1), four levels of inorganic P fertilizer (0, 7.5, 15 and 22.5 kg P ha-1) and four levels of inorganic K fertilizer (0, 10, 20 and 30 kg K ha-1) and with some diagnostic nutrients. The experiments were laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) replicated three times on-station and fifteen times on-farm. The experiment was carried out in 2015 on smallholder farms in Unguwar Chida, (Zamfara state), Zarewa (Kano state) and IAR experimental farm at Samaru, Kaduna state of Nigerian northern Guinea savanna.Result showed that application of 60 kg N ha-1,15 kg P ha-1 and 10 kg K ha-1 gave the highest grain yield (2567.3 kg ha-1) at Samaru, 120 kg N ha-1 and 22.5 kg P ha-1 had the highest grain yield (2432.1 kg ha-1) at Unguwar Chida, and 30 kg N ha-1 and 15 kg P ha-1 obtained highest grain yield (2181.6 kg ha-1) at Zarewa. The economically optimal nitrogen rate (EONR) means were 52 to 34 kg N ha-1 in Unguwar Chida, 45 to 26 kg N ha-1 in Zarewa and 40 to 2 kg N ha-1 at Samaru with the fertilizer cost to grain price ratios (CPs) of 2 to 6 across the locations. Mean economically optimal phosphorus rate (EOPR) were 21 to 10 kg P ha-1 at Unguwar Chida, 20 to 14 kg P ha-1 and 7 to 5 kg P ha-1 in Samaru. Agronomic use efficiency decreased with increasing nitrogen rates and were 11.50, 31.10 and 10.08 kg kg-1 respectively at EONR. Partial factor productivity decreased with increasing nitrogen rate and were 57.91, 65.95 and 61.19 kg ha-1, respectively at EONR. The optimized fertilizer recommendation per hectare for the sites studied were 78 kg N and16 kg P at Unguwar Chida, 51 kg N and 49 kg P, at Zarewa, and 72 kg N, 23 kg P at Samaru. The use of inorganic fertilizer by smallholder farmers in these regions based on this study was very profitable. Therefore, favourable formulated fertilizers blends and policies that will make available straight fertilizers and these blends available to smallholder farmer should be developed.
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