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Interpretive Summaries:
2011 - Best Crop and Fertilizer Management Effects on Yield of Oil Palm in Ecuador
2010 - Best Crop and Fertilizer Management Effects on Yield of Oil Palm
2009 - Best Crop and Fertilizer Management Effects on Yield of Oil Palm
2008 - Best Crop and Fertilizer Management Effects on Yield of Oil Palm in Ecuador
Best Crop and Fertilizer Management Effects on Yield of Oil Palm, 2009
This study maintained the same treatments tested in 2008, including: 1) farmer practice, 2) regular leaf pruning, 3) leaf pruning and weekly harvest, 4) treatment 3 plus balanced fertilization, and 5) all the previously listed best crop and fertilizer management plus chemical weed control within a close circle around each plant.
The OLEPSA site suffered from an unfortunate attack of leaf borer pests throughout the entire block and results from 2009 may not properly reflect the impact of the treatments alone. At this site, the cumulative yield of fresh fruit for 2009 showed values comparable to standard practice (46 t/ha/yr) with the leaf pruning (47 t/ha/yr), and with pruning plus weekly harvest (44 t/ha/yr). We did not observe any increase in yield with the combination of these practices and the use of balanced fertilization (44 t/ha/yr). Yield was highest with treatment 5 using the list of best practices plus chemical weed control (48 t/ha/yr). The twin experiment located at the Tarragona plantation showed similar results to those measured at OLEPSA in 2008. This site showed a rather high yield increase with recommended practices in comparison with regular practices and little differences among the rest of treatments.
These changes in cumulative yearly harvest reflect, most of all, that the full time needed to express the results in fruit yield has not been reached (40 months according to the literature). These experiments will continue for at least 1 more year at OLEPSA and 2 more years in Tarragona. Ecuador-13
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