Vital Earth Trial
Assessing the establishment and yield response of an application of pelletised active carbon.
Dumbleyung, WA, 2017
Summary
This trial was established near Dumbleyung in WesternAustralia on 17th of May 2017 to evaluate the effect of an in-furrowapplication of Pelletised Active Carbon. The site contained a heavy clay soilwhich we suspect may not benefit from an application of Vital Earth.
The aim of Vital Earthis to improve long term soil moisture and nutrient holding capacity andsubsequent increase in yields by improving soil biological activity with thehumic and fulvic content of amerliorant.
Visual improvements in root and foliar vigour were observedin all treated plots however this could not be accurately quantified usingNDVI. There was no significant statistical difference in yield or protein. Thevery soft finish to the season will have reduced the benefits of a bigger rootsystem and more vegetative crop. We hope to repeat this trial under “gutless”soil conditions in 2018.
Methodology
Materials
- OFS’s Vital Earth
Treatment List
Tmt No. Product 1 Control 2 25Kg/Ha Vital Earth 3 50Kg/Ha Vital Earth 4 100Kg/Ha Vital Earth
Trial Layout
Experimental Design
Design: Commercial Demonstration Replications: 2 Plot length: 60m Plot Width: 4m
Site, Crop and Application Details
Assessment Methods
Assessment Date: Assessment 26/06/2017 Root and top assessment + NDVI 03/08/2017 Tissue test + NDVI 15/09/2017 Tiller counts 20/11/2017 Yield
Data Analysis
All data analysis in this report was conducted using Microsoft Excel. Simple means, analysis of variance and the student t-test were used to determine statistical significance using the least significant difference method with a 95% confidence interval.
Results
Visual Assessment – Root and Foliar
The images in the appendix show increased foliar mass and root mass in the treated plants over untreated controls.
NDVI (4-5 Leaf)
Seems to be an improvement in early vigour across all treatments compared with the untreated. This is mimicked by the images in the appendix. The pulled plants look more vigorous, increasing with the rate however the NDVI shows the opposite.
NDVI (1st Node)
At this late stage it seems the differences in early vigour have diminished with the untreated plot catching up.
Tiller Count
With the staggered germination resulting from dry sowing into hard clay, it proved difficult to fairly and consistently count the number of tillers in a metre row as there were large patches of nothing. Hence as an alternative we counted the number of tillers on 20 plants per plot. Hence the average seen below is of 40 plants per treatment. There seems to be no significant differences between treatments however it seems as though the 100Kg treat produced, on average one tiller more than the rest of the treatments.
Tissue Assessment
10 plants from each treatment were sent to CSBP for a tissue sample test. There seems to have been an error with the 25Kg testing as the plant weight is substantially down. The 50Kg and 100Kg treats are showing larger plants on average with elevated levels of Mn and Fe.
Harvested Yield
Performing an ANOVA and T Test statistical test on the datashows that there is no significant statistical difference between any of thetreatments and the control. This is likely due to the small number ofrepetitions and the large variations across the results that are likely due todifferent soils and topography across the sample area.
Protein Grain Assessment
A sample of grain from each plot was sent for analysis at the Dumbleyung grain CBH site. Figure 4 below shows there were slight but insignificant differences. The slight increases (less than one percent) in protein percentages at this scale are unlikely to result in any financial advantage to the farmer.
Conclusion
The application of Vital Earth seems to have improved thecrops early vigour as shown in the 1st NDVI readings and imagestaken. However those differences seemed to have diminished later in the seasonwith the final yield returning no statistical difference. It is likely that thetreated plants established a larger root system that would have stood up betterto a dry finish compared to the untreated and thus yielded better. However withthe soft and wet finish to the season any expected yield gains will have beendiminished.
Site selection was not ideal in our first year and placing Vital Earth in a heavy clay is not likely to produce much of a result. We believe there is potential to ameliorate and stimulate biological activity in poor sand. We hope to achieve this in 2018.
Appendices
Rainfall
Photos
