Fertility Test and Results of the Liquid Series of Fertilife™ Organic Fertilizer
1. King of Drip Irrigation® - Fertility test on tomato
Location: Beifeng Village, Old Town Street, Shouguang City, Shandong Province
Experimental Period: 5 Nov 2007 – 17 Feb 2008
Objectives:
- Compare the effectiveness of Fertilife™ organic liquid fertilizer - King of Drip Irrigation®
with local recommended brand – solid quick soluble fertilizer on tomato - Test the dose effect of King of Drip Irrigation® used as top-dressing on tomato
Experimental Method: Direct comparison
Application Method: Flooding irrigation
Experimental Details:
- Greenhouse: 60 meters x 8.5 meters, equivalent to a planting area of 0.051ha.
- Planting Density: 91 lines, 22 plants / line, 2002 plants / greenhouse, equivalent to 39,255 plants / ha.
- Base fertilizer: 10 tons of chicken manure, 100 kg of compound fertilizer (17-17-17) applied to the whole field of greenhouse before planting.
- Sowing on 10 July 2007, fixed net on 20 August, started fertilizer application on 15 Sept, then once each month, harvested on 15 Nov and test ended on 17 Feb 2008.
Test Materials:
- King of Drip Irrigation®
- Local recommended brand – solid quick soluble fertilizer (vegetable formula)
Treatments:
| Treat No | Fertilizer Name | Application Dose (kg/ha/time) | Plot Area (ha/plot) | Applied Amount (kg/plot /time) | Frequency of Application |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Vegetable Fertilizer | 495 | 0.0255 | 12.5 | 3 |
| 2. | King of Drip Irrigation® | 475 | 0.0128 | 6 | 3 |
| 3. | King of Drip Irrigation® | 237 | 0.0128 | 3 | 3 |
Test Results:
| Treat No. & Fertilizer Name | Average Fruit Weight (g/each fruit) | Fruit No. / plant (pcs/plant) | Yield /ha (kg/ha) | Increasing Rate (％) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treat 1. Vegetable Fertilizer | 157.08 | 10.93 | 92,079 | - |
| Treat 2. King of Drip Irrigation® | 165.25 | 10.23 | 99,473 | 3.9 |
| Treat 3. King of Drip Irrigation® | 153.94 | 11.07 | 99,870 | 4.3 |
Conclusions:
Application of Fertilife™ organic liquid fertilizer - King of Drip Irrigation® :
- Leaves of plants after fertilizing grew notably thicker and were in a darker and healthy green color.
- Fruits matured with good color and in good shape; the fruit quality was significantly improved.
- Both yield and the income of tomato fertilized by King of Drip Irrigation® were higher than the local brand treatment.
- At conditions of this experiment, only half amount of King of Drip Irrigation® applied can gain the same yield compared with the local brand.
2. King of Drip Irrigation® - Fertility test on Luffa cylindrica
Location: Moucun, Luocheng Centre, Shouguang City, Shandong Province
Experimental Period: 4 Nov 2007 – January 2008
Plant Growth Stage: Fruiting Peak
Objectives:
- Compare the effectiveness of Fertilife™ organic liquid fertilizer - King of Drip Irrigation® with local recommended brand – solid quick soluble fertilizer on Luffa cylindrical at fruiting stage
- Test the dose effect of King of Drip Irrigation® used as top-dressing on Luffa cylindrica
Experimental Method: Direct comparison
Application Method: Flooding irrigation
Experimental Details:
- Greenhouse: 65 meters x 10.5 meters, equivalent to a planting area of 0.06825 ha.
- Planting Density: 105 lines, 32 plants / line, 3360 plants / field, equivalent to 49,410 plants / ha.
- Base fertilizer: 10 tons of chicken manure and 100 kg of compound fertilizer (17-17-17) applied to the whole field of greenhouse before planting.
- Sowing in early August 2007, trans-planting on 20 August, started to harvest on 5 Oct, started the 1st fertilizer application of this experiment on 4 Nov., then once each month for a total three applications, and test ended at the end of Jan., 2008.
Test Materials:
- King of Drip Irrigation®
- Local recommended brand – solid quick soluble fertilizer (vegetable formula)
Treatment:
| Treat No | Fertilizer Name | Application Dose (kg/ha/time) | Plot Area(ha/plot) | Applied Amount (kg/plot /time) | Frequency of Application |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Vegetable Fertilizer | 1320 | 0.034125 | 45 | 3 |
| 2. | King of Drip Irrigation® | 720 | 0.0170625 | 12 | 3 |
| 3. | King of Drip Irrigation® | 360 | 0.0170625 | 6 | 3 |
Test Results:
| Treat No. & Fertilizer Name | Ave. Fruit Weight (g/each fruit) | Ave. Fruit Diameter (cm) | Ave. Fruit Length (cm) |
Yield/ha (kg/ha) | Increasing Rate (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treat 1. Vegetable Fertilizer | 207.61 | 3.214 | 33.69 | 25,950 | - |
| Treat 2. King of Drip Irrigation® | 218.83 | 3.248 | 34.43 | 28,920 | +11.45 |
| Treat 3. King of Drip Irrigation® | 231.18 | 3.365 | 33.93 | 28,320 | +9.13 |
Conclusions:
Application of Fertilife™ organic liquid fertilizer - King of Drip Irrigation®:
- Application of King of Drip Irrigation® has significant effect on the plant and the yield was 11.45% higher than the treatment from local recommended brand.
- Due to the good quality of fruits from King of Drip Irrigation® treatments, the unit price was RMB0.4/kg more than the fruit from the comparison treatment.
- There were significant amount of distinguishable new roots developed after 20 days application of King of Drip Irrigation®, thus the capacities of water and nutrient absorption of plant increased, the average height of the plants from King of Drip Irrigation® treatments increased 10 cm.
- The leaves was thicker and the color was darker after fertilized by King of Drip Irrigation®. It indicated that a higher capability of photosynthesis could be predicted from the King of Drip Irrigation® treatments, that also explained why the plants from these treatments extended the harvesting period up to 26 days, thus more fruits were produced.
- It also noted that the rate of irregular shape of the fruits was reduced and the texture of fruits was firmer, indicating the better quality than the fruits from local brand treatment.
- At conditions of this experiment, only half amount of King of Drip Irrigation® applied can gain more yield compared with the local brand treatment.
3. Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid - Fertility test on rice
Location: Yangdian Village, Shucheng Town, Shuyang County, Jiangsu Province
Experimental Period: 12 August 2006 – 13 October 2006
Plant Growth Stage: Re-productive stage
Objectives:
- Test the effectiveness of leaf spray fertilizers that applied at re-productive stage of rice
- Compare the effects of Fertilife™ organic liquid fertilizer - Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid with local recommended brand – Rice special leaf spray fertilizers on the yield of rice
Experimental Method: Random blocks, 3 replications
Application Method: Leaf spray
Experimental Details:
- A 36.5 x 8.5 m field was used for the test. The plots were protected with a 0.25 m isolation zone. A dose at 750kg/ha of compound fertilizer (15-15-15) was applied to whole plots as the base fertilizer before trans-planting. Seedlings were transplanted at early June, 2006.
- Leaf spray at a rate of 1.125L/ha started on Aug. 10, 25 and Sept. 12 respectively, it was the reproductive stage of rice. The dilution rate of concentrated leaf spray fertilizers was 1:200. For the non-spray treatment, fertilizer was replaced by equal amount of pure water
- The harvest started on Oct 13-14, each plot was harvested individually and sampled separately. All agronomic characteristics were analyzed based on the field experimental design. The yield was calculated according the actual harvest from the plots.
Test Materials:
- Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid
- local recommended brand – Rice leaf spray fertilizer
Treatment:
| Non-Spray Treat | Rice Leaf Spray Fertilizer | Fertilife™503 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spray Dose (L/ha) | - | 1.125 | 1.125 |
| Weight of Grain (g/1000grain) | 22.20 | 22.77 | 23.77 |
| Spike no. per Plant Spike (no. /plant) | 6.0 | 7.56 | 7.78 |
| Effective Grain no. per Spike (grains / spike) | 131.83 | 128.51 | 132.43 |
| Grain Yield (kg/ha) | 5,911.5 | 6,283.5 | 6,991.5 |
| Total Value/ha (￥2.4/kg) | ￥14,187.6 | ￥15,080.4 | ￥16,779.6 |
| Increase Rate to Non-spray | +6.3% | +18.3% | |
| To Local Brand | +11.3% |
Conclusions:
Spray of Fertilife™ organic liquid fertilizer - Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid:
- The spray application at the reproductive stage of rice has significant effect on the grain yield.
- Based the analysis of agronomic characteristics, the leaf spray application could increase the effective numbers of spikes of each plant and the grain’s weight.
- The grain yield from Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid treatment was increased by 11.3% compared with the treatment spraying local recommended brand rice spray. The analysis showed that the significant increase of the grain yield was due to more effective spike and more grains on each spike. This indicates that the biological effective factors in Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid can stimulate the differentiation of stems and buds, the full array of nutrients can ensure the grain development without suffer from the deficits from any essential trace element.
4. Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid - Fertility test on Bermuda grass
Location: Yuen Long, Hong Kong
Experimental Period: January to June， 2003
Plant Growth Stage: Established grassland of golf course
Objectives:
- Test the effect of Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid as leaf spray on the growth of Bermuda grass
- Compare the economic efficiency of Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid as leaf spray with local recommended brand – compound fertilizer (15-7-15) on Golf course
Experimental Method: Random blocks, 3 replications
Application Method: Leaf spray every other day at 1:500 dilution
Experimental Details:
- A golf course with Bermuda grass was used for the test. The plots were maintained as standard procedures of commercial golf course. Spray irrigation of water at a rate of 2.5kg/100m2 was conducted each morning.
- Leaf spray of diluted fertilizers at a rate of 3.5kg/100m2 applied on the grass every other day. The dose of 10kg/100m2/month and 2.5kg/100m2/month for either compound fertilizer or Fertilife™ 503 was adopted respectively, The dilution rate was 1:500 was used by water before the application.
- There were sampling slots with an area of 0.2 m2 each in the plots arranged as standard field experimental design. The height of grasses in the plot was measured, and then cut to 3cm in height from the ground weekly. The grasses from the cutting were sampled for the analysis of fresh and dry weights. The degree of green color of the grasses was measured from the ethanol extraction of fresh grass at 420 nm wavelength. The experiment ended after six-month observation.
Test Materials:
- Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid
- Local recommended brand – compound fertilizer (15-7-15)
Results:
| Compound Fertilizer | Fertilife™ 503 | |
|---|---|---|
| Spray Dose (kg/100m2/Month) | 10 | 2.5 |
| Dose of N (kg/100m2/Month) | 1.5 | 0.125 |
| Growth Rate (cm/day) | 0.96 | 1.02 |
| Dry Weight Increased (g/m2/Week) | 16.1 | 17.3 |
| Chlorophyll (OD420nm) | 0.70 | 0.72 |
| Fertilizer Applied (ton/ha/year) | 12 | 3 |
| Fertilizer Applied (HKD/ton) | 4,000 | 10,000 |
| Fertilizer Cost (HKD /ha/year) | 48,000 | 30,000 |
| Cost Saved (HKD /ha/year) | 18,000 | |
| Reduction Rate (%) | 37,5 |
Conclusions:
- Spray of Fertilife™ organic liquid fertilizer - Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid on the grasses did not reduce the quality of grassland regarding the growth rate and color etc;
- Using the existing irrigation system to apply leaf spray for the fertilization of golf course can reduce the cost of manpower and related cost;
- Compared with effect of Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid treatment and local recommended brand fertilizer on the grasses, there were no significant differences on the dry weight, growth rate as well as the color while the application dose of Fertilife™ 503 organic liquid was only 1/4 of compound fertilizer, the N content was only 1/12 of chemical fertilizer. It indicates that the organic matters in Fertilife™ 503 can remain the nutrients and also use them more efficiently, thus it can dramatically reduce the environmental pollution from fertilization.