Field Test Report of NutriGROW on Celery       
Hongze vegetable station
Hongze soil and fertilizer station
Jiangsu Provincial soil and fertilizer station

In order to examine NutriGORW fertilizer efficiency on celery, arranged by Jiangsu soil and fertilizer Station, we carried out field tests and report the result as follows:

1. Testing Materials and Approaches

1.1 Fertilizer Product

NutriGROW, liquid humus fertilizer, a product of Greentech (Suzhou) Humorganic Technology Ltd.

1.2 Test Venue

Tests were carried out at Wangzhuang Vegetable Farm at Gaoliang Jian of Hongze County on viscous loess soil, and previous stubble was Pakchoi. The object for tests is celery, and the variety is apium graveolens.

1.3 Treatments and the test approach

The tests were in three different treatment models:

Treatment 1 blank comparison (CK1):

15,000 kilogram per Ha of organic fertilizer and 300 kilogram of compound fertilizer (45%) per Ha as base dressing were applied, no topdressing fertilization is used.

Treatment 2 (T2) regular comparison: Applied same base dressing as Treatment 1 but applied topdressing twice each 75 kilogram of urea per Ha.

Treatment 3 (T3): Applied same base dressing as Treatment 1，but applied NutriGROW twice as topdressing.  The first topdressing was applied when crops grew to 5-6 cm height and the 2nd topdressing applied 20 days later.  The dosage of topdressing were 45 kilogram/Ha per application. The  NutriGROW was diluted 30-times prior application.

On March 20, the testing object, celery, was sowed with density of 0.25 kilogram/mu of seeds in a 20㎡testing plot with 15×20cm row spacing applying single line irrigation and was harvested on June 20. 

2. Test Results and Analysis

2.1 The impacts of different approach on biological characteristics of celery.

Table 1 shows that treatment T3 with NutriGROW applied obviously has better biological characteristics compared to CK1 and T2 (regular comparison), the plant height reached 71.2 cm which is 2.9 cm and 1.4 cm higher compared to CK1 and T2 respectively;  the number of leaves were 12.8 which is 1 and 0.7 more leaves as compared to CK1 and T2 respectively; Petiole length grown to 61.2 cm which was 3.9 cm and 2.9 cm longer than CK1 and T2 respectively; Petiole width developed into 2.52 cm which was 0.38cm and 0.11cm wider than CK1 and T2 respectively; Petiole thickness was 0.98 cm which was 0.11cm and 0.03 cm thicker as compared to CK1 and T2 respectively. 

Table 1: Impacts on Celery’s Biological Characteristics

T3, treatment with NutriGROW recorded the most flourishing growth with obvious difference in terms of plant growth, development time and appearance of green leaves.     

2.2 The impacts of different treatment on Yield

Table 2 shows that the plot with T3 treatment generated highest crop yield with average crop yield amounting to 214 kilogram（equivalents to 106,999.5 kg per Ha）, while the average crop yield of T2 treatment（the plot with regular fertilization）was 199 kilogram（equivalents to 99,720 kg/Ha）and the yield with CK1 treatment（only basic fertilizers were applied）was only 184 kilogram（equivalent to 92,004 kg/Ha.  The yield of T3 (NutriGROW approach) was increased by 7,279 kg or 7.3% as compared with regular treatment T2, and the yield was increased by 14,995 kg or 16.3% as compared with CK1.  Significant differences were found in Analysis of Variance (ANVOA analysis) as well as in Average Multi-comparison when T3 is compared with CK1 and T2.

Table 2:  Yield Comparison with NutriGROW

Table 3:  ANOVA Table

2.3 The impacts on economic returns with different treatment.

Results from Table 4 reveals that after deduction of fertilizer cost, the net income from T3 compared to that of blank approach (CK1) was US$980.65 more per Hectare and US$481.72 more than that of regular fertilization treatment (T2).  Taken celery price at 7.1 US cents/kg and just for illustration purpose, taken NutriGROW at US$1,800/ton while Urea at US$343/ton and compound fertilizer at US$455/ton (the fertilizers prices may differ from the actual prices in the market as prices fluctuates all the time).

      Table 4: Impacts of Different treatment on economic returns.

3. Conclusions and Comments

 In this field test, NutriGROW was proved to produce very much better results than the other two treatments. The celery were grown vigorously, the improvement on celery growth, plant height, number and color of leaf were very obvious.  Yield from NutriGROW application was 106,999 kg; it was 7,279 kg more than regular fertilization (T2), a 7.3% of yield increase. The additional income is thus US$516.81 for each hectare. The yield compared to blank Treatment (CK1) was 14,995 kg, or a 16.3% yield increase. The additional income was US$1,064.65 for each Hectare.  T3 treatment as compared to CK1 and T2, the differences

were found significant in ANVOA table as well as in Average Multi-comparison.

Ju Lihai
Senior Agronomist
The Field Test Officer in Charge

June 30, 2006