ON-STATION TRIAL OF THE PRATHISTA BIO-ORGANIC FERTILIZER PRODUCTS ON BITTERGOURD IN BULACAN
Dinah Marie C. Dayag, Rhuelyn A. Ballaran, and Nerilyn J. Victoria
Abstract
On-Station trial of the Prathista products on bittergourd Galactica variety was conducted at Palayamanan area of Bulacan Agricultural State College on the month of February, 2015. Four treatments were used following Randomized Complete Block Design and replicated three times. During the dry season, significant difference in the number of marketable fruits was obtained from the 20 sample plants of the different treatments. No significant differences were observed among the different treatments on the days to 50% flowering, first and last harvest, weight of marketable fruits and the number and weight of non-marketable fruits from the 20 sample plants, total number of marketable and non-marketable fruits, total weight of marketable and non-marketable fruits and the means of pest damaged fruits during the dry and wet season. For the period of wet season, no significant difference in the number of marketable fruits was obtained from the 20 sample plants of the different treatments. For the dry season, Treatment 1 or 100% Farmer’s practice has the highest net income which garnered Php 1,976.70 and the lowest net income gained was at Treatment 2 amounting to Php 1,082.25. For the return on investment, the application of 100% Farmer’s practice gave the highest with 43.81% and the least was from the application of 50% Farmer’s practice and 50% Prathista products with 23.84%. For the wet season , Treatment 3 or 75% Prathista products and 25% farmer’s practice has the highest net income and the least was from Treatment 4. The farmer’s practice had a wide advantage in terms of monetary value with high yield and high return of investment compared with the other treatments. The use of Prathista bio-organic fertilizer alone or in combination with inorganic fertilizer was comparable to the farmer’s practice in terms of agronomic characteristics, total number and total yield.
