Americas and Oceania Group - International Plant Nutrition Institute

y this time a carry-over effect with N management strategies, those treatments with no N or reduced
applications (2/3 cycles) had significantly lower yields than N repeated in all cycles.
In the other two crop cycles (2010-A, and 2011-A), the treatments with N application and higher planting
density had the highest yields followed by the treatments with N application and low planting density. The values
of yield with no N applications declined progressively across the four consecutive crop cycles. IPNI-38
Ecuador
Site-Specific Nutrient Management for Soft Corn Varieties in the Highlands of Ecuador
Project Leader: Franklin Valverde, INIAP, Santa Catalina Soils Estación Experimental Santa Catalina, Quito, Pichincha.
E-mail: frankiniap@yahoo.es
This study has been conducted for 4 years in the province of Bolivar and together with Instituto Nacional
Autónomo de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIAP). A farmers’ field day was organized at the ITSA 3 de
Marzo school in Guaranda for the local community (June 3, 2011). For this, four plots were prepared: a)
Fertilizer recommendation for high yields [50,000 hills/ha; 120, 70, 20, 20 and 10 kg/ha of N, P 2 O 5 , K 2 O, S,
and Mg, respectively]; b) Traditional farmer management [37,500 plants/ha; 50, 30, 10, 0, and 0 kg/ha of N,
P 2 O 5 , K 2 O, S, and Mg, respectively]; c) Improved farmer management (established to show the benefits of
better crop management alone; 50,000 hills/ha with farmer fertilization] and 4) Omission N [50,000 hills/ha;
0 N and all other elements following the recommendation for high yield]. The farmer’s field day was attended
by about 300 local farmers, agronomists, and agencies representatives. Along with the presentations and visits
to the demonstrative plots, a publication was made and distributed to all attendees, which summarizes 4 years
of research and shows that together with proper soil conservation and crop management it is quite possible to
obtain yields of about 7 t grain/ha, well above the historical average of 3 t/ha.
The project opened a new location in the Imbabura province in the north of Ecuador. To start, as was done in
the Bolivar province, several omission plots were established (-N, -P. -K, -S, and -Mg) to check the yield response
to individual elements, along with a complete treatment and a control (traditional farmer management). The first
planting was made with two replications in a single location at the Cotacachi county. Unfortunately, due to extreme
rainfall, many of the plots suffered from an unusual bacteria wilt and the data could not be analyzed as intended.
Following the discussion at the IPNI annual staff meeting, a second planting was made including omission
plots for -N, -P, and -K, together with ‘addition plot’ treatments with an element alone (+N, +P, +K) a zero
fertilizer treatment and a regular complete treatment. The sites in this second attempt were in Cotacachi and
Otavalo counties. Harvest will be made in the second quarter of 2012. Ecuador-09
Best Crop and Fertilizer Management Effects on Yield of Oil Palm in Ecuador
Project Leader: Roberto Burgos, ANCUPA (National Association of Palm Growers) Extension and Research CIPAL
(Centro de Investigación en Palma), Quininde, Esmeraldas. E-mail: rburgos@ancupa.com
Project Cooperators: Gustavo Bernal (ANCUPA), Alain Durant (OLEPSA), and Jorge Troya (OLEPSA)
The activities of this Best Management (BM) project at the Tarragona plantation (Esmeraldas, Ecuador)
started in the third quarter of 2009. Tarragona has an average annual precipitation of 3,070 mm and an
average temperature of 24.2°C. Soils of this region are slightly acidic (pH 5.07), classified as sandy clay loam
Inceptisols, with high organic matter content (4.5%). The site has a severe problem of leaf yellowing, due to
cation unbalance that induced K and Mg deficiencies.
The treatments used in the experiment were: a) regular plantation management (‘T1’); b) regular pruning, twice
a year (‘T2’); c) regular pruning plus weekly harvest rounds (‘T3’); d) Regular pruning, weekly harvest rounds and
balanced fertilization (‘T4’); and e) All the previous management plus chemical weed control in plant circles (‘T5’).
The experiment had a complete randomized block design with four replications. The variables analyzed were fresh
fruit bunch (FFB) yield (t/ha), leaf area (sq. m), root dry weight (g), and root mycorrhiza colonization (%).
The 2009 yield showed no differences among treatments and an average yield of 11 t FFB/ha, T2 had
about 7 t FFB/ha this year, the lowest record for the study in this location. In contrast, the cumulative FFB
production for 2009 to 2010 showed a marked recovery in the T4 and T5 treatments. T4 increased to about 13.3 t
FFB/ha, while T5 had 15.0 t FFB/ha, which was 5.6 t FFB higher than T1 (9.7 t). The yield recorded for 2010 to
2011 showed a general yield increase, but the same pattern as for 2009 to 2010, with the highest FFB/ha yields in
T4 (18 t) and T5 (17.2 t). T4 yield was about 7 t higher than T1 (11.1 t) and 3.1 t higher than T3 (14.8 t).
Overall the results at Tarragona are similar to those found in Olepsa and indicate that BMPs can increase
yields and improve nutrient use efficiency. ANCUPA (Asociación Nacional de Cultivadores de Palma
Aceitera) and the Tarragona management will continue this study for at least an additional year, all related
costs will be managed by Tarragona and ANCUPA. Ecuador-13 v
54 IPNI Interpretive Summaries