Albion Metalosate Eggplant Trial

Tuesday 10 October 2023

This trial took place in Chaing Mai, Thailand. The purpose of the trial was to compare a Metalosate® program to the growers’ standard nutrient program.
 

Materials and Methods

The eggplants used in this project were a Japanese variety (Solanum melongeana var. serpenpinum L.).

Plants were grown from seed and transplanted into the field 15 days after seeding. This particular variety blooms at 75-80 days of age. The harvest period begins at 85-90 days old. This field was harvested on a daily basis for a period of 4.5 months.

Table 1 is a summary of the three treatments applied. Treatment 1, the control treatment, was applied every 6 days; treatments 2 and 3 were applied every 12 days. Applications were applied at the concentrations listed in Table 1. All plants were sprayed to the point of runoff. As the plants grew larger, the amount of product applied increased as a result of more surface area to spray.

Table 2 is a summary of the yield results from this project. A running total over the entire harvest period provided the overall yields from each treatment. The growers’ standard program (control) gave the lowest yield per area. Treatment 2 gave the most with treatment 3 falling between the two.

 

Discussion

The overall yield increase when making applications of Metalosate products over the growers’ standard

practice was significant. The increase of 264% in treatment 2 over the control demonstrated the positive effect Metalosate products had on the crop. This represented an excellent return on investment for the grower.

As demonstrated in this trial, the use of the Metalosate products can significantly increase yields and profitability.