Results of production tests of humic fertilizers in various soil and climatic zones of Ukraine in 2019

Based on the developed theoretical provisions, production tests of humic fertilizers have been conducted in Ukraine over the past ten years in various soil and climatic zones. In 2019, large-scale tests were organized by the Agro.Bio laboratory in the Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zaporizhia, Poltava, Kirovohrad and Dnipropetrovsk regions on control fields. The participants in the tests were farmers, farmers, agroholdings and experimental farms.

A unified testing methodology was developed and approved, and the corresponding instructions were issued. General management and on-site control were carried out by the Agro.Bio laboratory. In total, about 100 tons of humic fertilizers were produced. The main types of fertilizers used in the tests were Adept (mainly in Polesie) and potassium humate (in the steppe zone), manufactured in accordance with the technical conditions developed by the Agro.Bio laboratory in Ukraine.

Chemical composition of humic fertilizers

Table 1. Chemical composition of potassium humate

Testing Methodology

The experiments were classified into two groups:

1. Field experiments using standard experimental station methods with several repetitions.
2. Production experiments without replication, with plots ranging from 1000 m² to 1 ha or more.

Experiment locations

Table 2. Locations of experiments with humic fertilizers

Industrial application

Humic fertilizers were used in production crops in the following regions:

• Chernihiv region:
  • Repkinsky district: 4 farms, 175 hectares.
  • Mensky district: 5 farmers, 280 ha.
  • Mykhailo-Kotsiubynsky district: 1 farm, 50 ha.
• Zhitomir region:
  • Luginsky district: 3 farms, 2.2 tons of fertilizers, more than 1000 hectares.
  • Olevskiy district: 3 farms and 1 forestry enterprise, 1.2 tons of fertilizers.
• Kyiv region:
  • Makarovsky district: 6 farms, 3 tons of fertilizers, 60 hectares.

Objectives of the tests

1. Compare the efficiency of humic fertilizers with an equivalent set of mineral fertilizers and standard rates for a given zone.
2. To establish optimal doses of humic fertilizers for local and scattered application (local doses varied from 1 to 2 l/ha).
3. Determine the most suitable form of humic fertilizers (potassium humate, Adept, Amino Energy) for different crops.

Humic fertilizers containing soluble forms of humic acids and mineral nutrition are effective in much smaller doses than traditional organic fertilizers. Their effect is especially noticeable in the early stages of plant development, so the main focus was on local application. Other application methods were also tested in new soil and climatic conditions.

Conditions of the event

The tests were conducted on the following crops: corn, potatoes, sugar beets, flax, vegetable crops and tobacco. Of more than 50 experiments, 7 were considered methodologically incorrect and excluded. The agricultural technology corresponded to standard practices for each soil and climate zone.

Meteorological conditions in 2019 were unfavourable, especially in the Chernihiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions, where there was little precipitation during critical periods of plant growth. Spring 2019 was characterized by low temperatures, which also had a negative impact on crop development.

Results of tests on corn

Polesie: Experiment 1 (Luginsky district, Zhitomir region)

The experiment was conducted on medium-podzolized sandy loam soils with corn in control field No. 1.

Table 3. Effect of different doses of Adept on the yield of corn silage

Humic fertilizers proved effective on medium-podzolized sandy loam soils. The greatest yield increase (80.1 c/ha) was achieved with double application of Adept at a dose of 2 l/ha. Local application of 2 l/ha of humophoska also showed high efficiency, especially for the cob crop.

Polesie: Experiment 2 (Luginsky district, Zhitomir region)

The experiment was carried out on the same soils in 4-fold repetition. The predecessor was beet, the background was unfertilized.

Table 4. Economic efficiency of Adept humic fertilizers for silage corn

Adept demonstrated high efficiency, surpassing potassium humate, mineral fertilizers and peat-manure compost. The yield of green mass and cobs increased significantly, and ripening accelerated, which is especially important for the northern regions of Ukraine. The optimal dose for local application is 2 l/ha, which provided an increase of 133 c/ha.

Economic evaluation

Economic efficiency was calculated taking into account:

1. Fertilizer costs, including selling price, transportation, loading, unloading and application costs.
2. The cost of additional products obtained from the application of fertilizers, in purchase or sales prices.

The cost of purchasing and applying fertilizer was subtracted from the value of the additional output to arrive at a notional net income in dollars per hectare of crop planting. These calculations did not take into account the additional costs associated with harvesting the additional output obtained from applying fertilizer. Therefore, the actual net income will be somewhat less than that obtained using this calculation method.

Economic analysis of experience

Let us present the data of the economic analysis of the described experiment (Table 4). With the cost of humic fertilizers being $5.7 per Adept preparation, the costs of spraying corn are (at average prices) $6 per hectare. From the presented data it is evident that the lowest cost of additional production is obtained by applying 2 l/ha of fertilizers. All these figures are close, but since the gross production is significantly higher when applying 2 l/ha twice, the optimal dose of Adept per hectare for local application in this zone should be considered 2 l/ha twice.

Experiment 3

Experiment 3 was conducted on control field No. 2 in the Mensky district of the Chernigov region on light loamy podzolized chernozem with corn. The predecessor was corn for silage. Fertilizers were applied under plowing when sowing corn. After harvesting, the increase in green mass of corn compared to the unfertilized control was:

• Adept 1 l/ha: 81 c/ha
• Adept 1.5 l/ha: 86 c/ha
• Adept 2 l/ha: 97 c/ha
• Amino Energy 2 l/ha: 84 c/ha
• Potassium humate 2 l/ha: 78 c/ha

The best results were shown by humophoska when applied at a rate of 5 g/ha to the nests.

Table 5. Economic efficiency of humic fertilizers for corn for silage

The calculation of economic efficiency was carried out on the basis of actual costs associated with the application of fertilizers on control field No. 2. The data in Table 5 show that the maximum increase in yield is achieved with the application of 2 l/ha of Adept. The minimum cost of a centner of additional production and the maximum increase in yield per 1 l of applied fertilizer are also achieved with the application of 2 l/ha.

In cases where humic fertilizers were applied under plowing, the cost of production exceeded the planned one. When applying fertilizers during corn planting, Amino Energy can be a good alternative (or supplement) to Adept and potassium humate.

Table 6. Effect of Adept on the yield of green mass of corn (control field No. 3)

Note: At a nearby production site, peat-manure compost at a dose of 40 t/ha yielded a yield of 295 c/ha.

Experiment 4

Experiment 4 was conducted in the Repkinsky district with corn on an area of ​​5 hectares. All fertilizers were applied during pre-sowing cultivation. The highest yield was obtained from the application of peat-manure compost at a dose of 40 t/ha. A similar increase in yield was obtained from the application of Adept at doses of 1.5 l/ha and 2 l/ha, and the increase from 2 l/ha of Adept exceeded the increase from 1.5 l/ha by only 3%.

Experiment 5

Experiment 5 with silage corn was conducted in the Makarovsky district of the Kyiv region on an area of ​​10 hectares on sandy soil. The yield increases compared to the unfertilized control were:

• Sodium nitrate 1.5 c/ha: 27 c/ha
• Sodium nitrate 1.5 c/ha + superphosphate 2 c/ha: 40 c/ha
• Amino Energy 1 l/ha: 49 c/ha
• Amino Energy 1.5 l/ha: 87 c/ha
• Amino Energy 2 l/ha: 78 c/ha
• Adept 1 l/ha: 58 c/ha
• Adept 1.5 l/ha: 69 c/ha
• Adept 2 l/ha: 120 c/ha
• Manure 50 t/ha: 48 c/ha

Table 7. Economic efficiency of humic fertilizers for corn

The data in Table 7 show that the greatest increase in corn silage mass and the conditional net income from additional production were obtained with the use of humic fertilizers. The optimal dose for Amino Energy is 2 l/ha, for Adept - 2 l/ha. Reducing the Amino Energy dose to 1 l/ha gave a less significant result.

Forest-steppe zone

Experiment 6

Control field #4 in Cherkasy district, Cherkasy region, was planted with corn in spring during plowing. The soil is low-humus, leached, sandy loam chernozem. The predecessor was buckwheat with oats for green fodder. Fertilizers were applied during cultivation. Two weeks after emergence, the plants in the variant with potassium humate had darker green leaves and were taller than the control ones. The variant with humus occupied the middle place.

Table 8. Efficiency of potassium humate for grain corn (control field No. 4)

The experimental data showed that potassium humate at a dose of 2 l/ha gives a yield increase almost twice as much as without fertilizers.

Table 9. Effect of Adept on grain corn yield

Note: Fertilizers were applied during cultivation.

The additional cost of purchasing and applying Adept to corn pays for itself and yields a net income of about $500 per hectare.

Experiment 7

Experiment 7 with corn was conducted on a control field in the Smelyansky district on an area of ​​3 hectares. The soil was podzolized, sandy loam chernozem. The predecessor was sugar beet, under which 10 c/ha of mineral fertilizers were applied. Plants in the variants with Adept and manure had a greener leaf color and were taller than the control ones. The data in Table 9 confirmed the effectiveness of humic fertilizers on podzolized and sandy loam chernozems.

Steppe zone

The tests were conducted in Zaporizhzhya, Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava and Kherson regions. Humic preparations: Amino Energy and potassium humate.

Zaporizhia region

Experiments 8 and 9 were conducted on control field #8 in Kuibyshevsky district of Zaporizhia region with corn. The soil is ordinary medium-loamy chernozem. One experiment was laid on a plot fertilized with 30 t/ha of manure, the second - on an unfertilized background. The area of ​​the plot under each variant is 2 hectares. The predecessor is spring barley.

The experiments compared an organomineral mixture (80 kg superphosphate, 100 kg bulk humus, 70 kg chicken manure) and potassium humate, applied simultaneously with corn sowing. Potassium humate at a dose of 2 l/ha increased the yield of corn cobs by 5.5–6 c/ha, while the organomineral mixture gave an increase of 2–4.5 c/ha. Despite the low increase, the use of potassium humate remains profitable, since the cost of additional products exceeds the costs of its application.

Economic efficiency of humic fertilizers for corn in the Dnepropetrovsk region

In 2019, six experiments were conducted in the Dnipropetrovsk region with corn for grain and green mass on ordinary medium loamy chernozem.

Experiment 10

Experiment 10 with corn (Table 11) was laid out on the N30P30K20 background. The predecessor was sorghum; fertilizers were applied at sowing. The experiment was repeated 4 times.

Table 11. Comparative effect of humic and mineral fertilizers on corn grain yield

Note: P of experience is 3.26%.

The results show that the maximum increase in corn yield was obtained with the application of 2 l/ha of potassium humate. Amino Energy at a dosage of 1 l/ha was less effective than potassium humate 2 l/ha. A similar result was observed for a set of mineral fertilizers equivalent to 1 l of potassium humate. Relatively high increases from humic fertilizers in percentage terms are explained by the low yield in the control. Mineral fertilizers NPK (background), applied under cultivation at a shallow depth, could not be effectively used by plants in dry summer conditions, which led to a low yield in the control.

Experiments 12 and 13

Experiments 12 and 13 were aimed at comparing the efficiency of humic fertilizers from different types of raw materials. They were laid with corn for silage on an experimental plot in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Table 12. Effect of Amino Energy on silage corn yield

Note: Amino Energy was added in amounts equivalent to the specific form of nitrogen.

Table 13. Effect of potassium humate on the yield of corn silage mass

The tables show that Amino Energy increased the yield of corn silage mass by an average of 13%, while an equivalent amount of nitrogen fertilizers increased the yield by only 6%. The most effective was Amino Energy (2 l/ha), which, depending on the dosage, gave increases from 7 to 20%. The advantage of this fertilizer is its higher nutrient content, which allows it to be applied in smaller doses - 2 l/ha.

Experiments 13, 14, 15

Experiments 13, 14, 15 were aimed at determining the effect of Agro.Bio humic fertilizers on increasing the yield of corn grain against an unfertilized background. They were conducted on the same farm using a similar method.

Table 14. Effect of Amino Energy on corn grain yield

Table 15. Effect of potassium humate on corn grain yield

Table 16. Comparative efficiency of potassium humate (2 l/ha, applied twice) and equivalent amount of mineral fertilizers

The data show that the yield increases of corn grain under the influence of potassium humate, applied twice, amounted to 26 to 39%. Amino Energy at a dosage of 1.5 l/ha gave a smaller effect. An equivalent set of mineral fertilizers was even less effective.

Experiment 16

Experiment 16 with corn for grain was laid out on an area of ​​23.2 ha on control field No. 6 of the Novomoskovsk district on heavy loamy ordinary chernozem on a hybridization plot. The predecessor was winter wheat. Sowing was carried out with the introduction of 2 l/ha of potassium humate. The yield was recorded using the continuous harvesting method.

Table 17. Efficiency of potassium humate applied to corn (2019 experiment)

Note: The size of the plots is 11.6 hectares.

The application of potassium humate in small doses in steppe conditions turned out to be very effective. Spraying under cultivation at a dose of 0.5 l/ha in 2019 conditions turned out to be ineffective.

Table 18. The impact of humic fertilizers on corn yield in the Dnipropetrovsk region (2017–2018)

The data in Table 18 show that the application of potassium humate in the amount of about 2 l/ha increased the corn yield by an average of 15%, and repeated application gave an even greater effect. The particularly high yield increase (40%) in the 2019 experiment on control field No. 7 is explained by the specific effect of humic fertilizers on drought resistance, which was of particular importance in the conditions of a dry year. The experiments on control fields No. 6 and No. 7 were carried out on chernozem loamy soils, and on field No. 8 - on sandy loam soils.

Poltava region

Experiment 17

Experiment 17 was laid out with corn on thin chernozem in 4-fold repetition. The preceding crop was sunflower. 50 kg/ha of powdered superphosphate was applied under autumn plowing and under the predecessor. The tested fertilizers were applied into the hole together with the seeds to a depth of 8 cm.

Phenological observations showed that the appearance of male inflorescences began earlier in plots with potassium humate, and female ones - approximately simultaneously in all plots. Since the corn was sown late and could not produce cobs, the harvest was recorded only by green mass. The yield increase was:

• Potassium humate 1 l/ha: 17 c/ha
• Potassium humate 1.5 l/ha: 58 c/ha
• Potassium humate 2 l/ha: 72 c/ha

Analysis of the data shows that the soil in the area was likely deficient in phosphorus fertilizers.

Kherson region

Experiments 18, 19, 20

Experiments 18, 19, 20 were laid out on different control fields. The predecessors were grain crops. On control field #1, moisture-charging irrigation was carried out (600 m³ of water per hectare) and spring plowing with the introduction of 15 t/ha of manure. Sowing was carried out with hybrid seeds of variety #1 on control fields #2 and #3, with wheat variety #2 on field #3. Irrigation before flowering (June 1 and July 1) was carried out at the rate of 200-250 m³ of water per hectare (sprinkler irrigation). Silage mass was harvested on field #2 - July 15, on field #3 - August 15. Grain was harvested at the stage of technical maturity of cobs.

Table 19. Efficiency of potassium humate for corn under irrigated conditions

Table 20. Effect of potassium humate on the protein content of grain and its yield per hectare (control field No. 3)

The data show that in the conditions of the Kherson region (in most cases with irrigation), small doses of potassium humate used to treat corn seeds turned out to be an effective method for increasing yields and improving grain quality. At a dosage of 2 l/ha under irrigation conditions, potassium humate was more effective than 50–60 kg of granulated superphosphate.

Conclusion