Agriculture & Soil

Growing systems, soil science and what field trials actually show.

• Sep 21, 20265 min

  Manure Cut Fertilizer Needs in a Shallot Trial. One Season, One Field, One Soil.

  A single-season trial on an acid Ultisol in Bengkulu, Indonesia, tested composted cattle manure at 10 tonnes per hectare combined with 100, 75, 50, 25 or 0 percent of the recommended NPK rate, against a full-NPK reference with no manure. Manure plus 75 percent NPK gave the highest fresh bulb yield, 18.3 percent above the reference, and manure plus 50 percent NPK matched the reference while cutting storage weight loss from 22.2 to 15.1 percent after eight weeks. The trial was not replicated across sites or seasons, and the abstract reports no mechanism for the storage effect.