The Effects of Different Manurial Treatments on the Yield and Mineral Composition of Spring Cabbage

Abstract

Summary Spring cabbage were grown annually from 1955 to 1964 in a long-term manurial experiment on a sandy loam initially of low nutrient status. Applications of farmyard manure produced large increases in yield by increasing the numbers of plants which survived through the winter period, especially in adverse conditions, and by increasing the rate of growth of the plants during the spring. The yield responses to nitrogenous fertilizers were about the same in the presence of FYM as in its absence, and the results indicated that application of about 200 lb. N per acre as Nitrochalk (the form of nitrogen used) would produce near-maximum yields under the conditions of this experiment. Sulphate of potash (48% K₂ 0) at 4.0 cwt. per acre produced a small but significant increase in yield from 1960 to 1964 but during the earlier period of the experiment an effect of the same size produced by 2·0 cwt. per acre of fertilizer was not quite significant. Superphosphate (18% P₂ 0₅) at 1·0 and 2·0 cwt. per acre had no significant effects on yield. On average, plants from the FYM plots had a higher potassium content than plants from the fertilizer-only plots but the differences between nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium and calcium contents were small. In the presence of FYM, the fertilizer treatments produced only small differences in the mineral composition of the plants; in the absence of FYM, sulphate of potash up to 96 lb. K₂ 0 per acre increased the potassium content, and the nitrogen content was higher at the higher rates of application of the nitrogenous fertilizers than at the lower.