Evaluating the Effectiveness of Organic Foliar Fertilizer on Bean (Phaseolus Vulgaris L) Production in Makonde District of Zimbabwe

Abstract

High cost of inorganic fertilizer has prompted some agro-chemical industries in Zimbabwe to develop organic foliar fertilizers that are claimed by the producers to be used in common bean production as a substitute for the soil applied chemical fertilizers. A field experiment was carried out in Makonde district to evaluate the potential of organic foliar fertilizer as an alternative to soil applied chemical fertilizer in the production of common beans. A randomized complete Block Design (RCBD) with three treatments, replicated three times in three blocks was used resulting in a total of 27 experimental plots. The results of the study showed that organic foliar fertilizer had no statistically significant effect on the emergence of the plants as well as the number of days to flowering though the number of days to emergence were less than the other treatments. Soil applied chemical fertilizers had significantly higher number of flowers per plant, number of beans per pod, pod length, bean seed mass and the final yield per hectare than the other treatments. Although foliar fertilizers had higher number of flowers per plant, pods per plant, pod length, seed mass and yield, these were not statistically significantly different from the control. The new organic foliar fertilizer that has just been produced cannot therefore be use in Zimbabwe as a substitute for the soil applied chemical fertilizer as has been envisaged but as a supplement to the soil applied chemical fertilizers.

For the foliar fertilizer to be used as a substitute for the soil applied granular chemical fertilizers, there is need for strict formulation of the nutrients that are required for crop production that are currently absent in the fertilizer or further research on the frequency or timing of application that will result in high yields.