2014

SARGASSUM TEA: AN EFFECTIVE ORGANIC

FOLIAR FERTILIZER FOR VEGETABLES

Table 2. Value of fruits (PhP) produced by the spongegourd, bitter-gourd and tomato plants sprayed with sargassum tea.

Table 3. Cost of production of one hectare spongegourd, bittergourd and tomato plants sprayed with sargassum tea.

Table 4. Benefit cost ratio (BCR) of the spongegourd, bittergourd

D O N M ARI AN O M AR CO S M EM OR I AL STATE U N I VER SI TY

North La Union Campus Bacnotan, La Union

For more information, please contact: GENARO D. OMO

Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University North La Union Campus

Bacnotan, La Union Tel. No. (072) 242 -11-17

Net Income (PhP ha-1)

Spongegourd Bittergourd Tomato

T0- 465,416.67 187,666.67 243,750.53

T0+ 760,333.33 584,833.33 808,359.00

T1 784,750.00 567,333.33 769,923.00

T2 1,008,666.67 599,166.67 866,357.80

T3 837,500.33 789,500.00 877,245.47

T4 796,333.33 611,500.00 809,922.40

Treatments

Conclusions

1. The tomato plants sprayed with the highest concentra-tion of sargassum tea (1 part sargassum tea and 2.5 parts water) had attained the tallest height (88.61 cm) among the treatments at 30 days after transplanting (DAT).

2. The spongegourd plants applied with the recommended amount of inorganic fertilizer produced higher fruit yield when sprayed with sargassum tea ranging from 31,390.00 to 40,346.67 kg ha-1 of fruits produced. Spe-cifically, the plants sprayed with mixture of 1 part sar-gassum and 5 parts water (T2) produced the highest yield (40,346.67 kg ha-1) highest value of fruits produced (PhP1,008,666.67 ha-1) and highest BCR (6.72) too.

3. The bittergourd plants sprayed with mixture of 1 part sargassum and 7.5 parts water (T3) attained the highest fruit yield with 15,790.00 kg ha⁻¹, highest value of fruits produced (PhP789,500.00 ha-1) and highest BCR (5.22).

4. The tomato plants sprayed with mixture of 1 part sargas-sum and 7.5 parts water (T3) produced the highest fruit yield (43,862.27 kg ha-1) and highest value of fruits (PhP877,245.476 ha-1) while the plants of T5 (sprayed with crop giant foliar fertilizer) recorded the highest BCR (5.36).

Recommendations

1. The spraying of the spongegourd plant with a mixture of 1 part sargassum tea and 5 part water is recom-mended to attain higher fruit yield.

2. The spraying of the bittergourd and tomato plants with

Cost of Production (PhP ha-1)

Spongegourd Bittergourd Tomato

T0- - - -

T0+ 135,891.30 138,282.61 143,797.00

T1 155,543.47 158,934.78 163,449.17

T2 150,177.01 153,568.32 158,082.71

T3 147,717.39 151,108.70 155,623.09

T4 143,091.30 146,482.61 150,997.00

Treatments

Treatments Spongegourd Bittergourd Tomato

T0- - - -

T0+ 5.59 4.22 5.62

T1 5.05 3.57 4.71

T2 6.72 3.90 5.48

T3 5.67 5.22 5.63

T4 5.57 4.17 5.36

Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR)

Rationale

Vegetables is considered as a major cash crops in Ilocos Region. This is due to the fact that the Ilocanos are known as the major consumers of every kind of vegetables. The country’s vegetable per capita consumption of 40 kilograms is equivalent to an annual requirement of 3.8 mil-lion metric tons for roughly 100 million Filipinos. However, the current per capita consumption level is just one-fourth of the recommended dietary requirement of 146 kg per year, according to the World Health Organization (Cabrera, August 2012). One of the contributory factors for the low consumption of vegetables was due to limited or fluctuating supplies in the market. This is usually due to low yield because of poor soil conditions brought by continuous cultivation of the farm with various crops. However, the application of inorganic fertilizers in the soil is not always the ultimate remedy to increase yield be-cause there is a possibility that it could not be utilized by the plants due to several factors such as the soil pH, CEC, or-ganic matter, moisture content, etc. The deficiency of some nutrients even in minute quantity has a great effect to the growth and yield of the plants, but it could be corrected by supplementing or spraying with other source of nutrients such as the sargassum tea. Sargassum seaweeds are found abundantly at the shallow seas. Vegetables supplemented with sargassum tea produced higher yields, increased uptake of soil nutrients, increased resistance to some pests and improved seed germination

Objectives 1. To evaluate the growth and yield of vegetables as af-

fected by supplementing or spraying with different con-centration of sargassum tea.

2. To determine the most effective concentration of sar-gassum tea to enhance the growth and yield of the vegeta-bles.

Methodology

Land preparation Plow and harrow the field 2 weeks before transplant-ing.

Transplanting Transplanting was done late in the afternoon. Only one seedling was planted per hill. The seedlings were spaced at 1.0 m. x 0.5 m. Fertilizer Application The plants were side dressed with 5g Urea per hill every three weeks until the whole amount of the recom-mended fertilizer was fully applied as needed by the re-spective treatments.

Irrigation The plants were irrigated immediately after transplant-ing. Succeeding irrigation was done every 7-10 days.

Pest Control The plants were alternately sprayed with different kinds of insecticides every two or three weeks during the vegetative stage. However, spraying with insecticides during the fruiting period was done once a month. Weeding Weeding was done occasionally when the grasses be-came tall. Collection and Preparation of Sargassum Tea The sargassum seaweeds were collected along the sea-shore DMMMSU-FRTI, washed with fresh water and then air dried. Fermentation was done within three months by soaking every kilogram of dried sargas-

sum seaweeds to 12 litters of fresh water in a bucket with cover. Treatments T0

- – Control (Not Sprayed with Sargassum Tea and Not Ap-

plied with Inorganic Fertilizer) T0

+ – Applied with 100% Recommended Rate Inorganic Fer-tilizer

T1 – Applied with 100% RR Inorganic Fertilizer + Sprayed

with Mixture of 1 Part Sargassum Tea: 2.5 Parts Water T2 – Applied with 100% RR Inorganic Fertilizer + Sprayed

with Mixture of 1 Part Sargassum Tea: 5 Parts Water T3 – Applied with 100% RR Inorganic Fertilizer + Sprayed

with Mixture of 1 Part Sargassum Tea: 7.5 Parts Water T4 – Applied with 100% RR Inorganic Fertilizer + Sprayed

with Crop Giant

Fruit yield (kg ha-1)

Spongegourd Bittergourd Tomato

T0- 18,616.67 3,780.00 12,187.53

T0+ 30,413.33 11,696.67 40,417.95

T1 31,390.00 11,346.67 38,496.15

T2 40,346.67 11,983.33 43,317.89

T3 33,500.00 15,790.00 43,862.27

T4 31,853.33 12,230.00 40,496.12

Treatments