Pechay

INTRODUCTION Pechay (Brassica rapa) is an important vegetable crop and has high nutritional and good
commercial value. It is a fast growing crop and requires high nitrogen input. Generally, excessive
amounts of inorganic fertilizers are applied to vegetables in order to achieve a higher yield (Stewart et
al., 2005) and maximum value of growth (Daudaet al., 2008). However, the use of inorganic fertilizers
alone may cause problems for human health and the environment (AlNasir, 2002). Pechay is one of the
most popular vegetables among consumers for it is always available in the market anytime of the year. It
is also an important ingredient among Filipinos cuisine such as “puchero” and “nilaga” Organic manure
can serve as alternative option to mineral fertilizers (Gupta et al., 1988; Naeemet al., 2006) for
improving soil structure (Daudaet al., 2008) and microbial biomass (Suresh et al., 2004). Organic
manures such as carabao manure and pig manure improve the soil structure, aeration, slow release
nutrient which support root development leading to higher yield and better quality of plants. These are
readily available in the backyard but remained untapped for crop production especially vegetables
including pechay. Therefore, utilization of locally produced manures in vegetable production may
increase crop yields and income with less use of chemical fertilizer. The aim of this study was to
determine of the effects of different bio-organic fertilizers from animal wastes on productivity and
profitability of organic pechay production. MATERIALS AND METHODS Experimental Design and
Treatments The study was conducted at the University of Eastern Philippines (UEP) Agro- Meteorological
Station, main campus, Catarman, Northern Samar, Philippines from January – March 2017. The
experiment was laid out following the Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Replicated three
times, the treatments were: Carabao manure (T1); Swine manure (T2); Caramanure tea (T3); and
control-no fertilizer (T4). Production and Application of Bio-organic Fertilizer Carabao manure was
formulated by gathering dried or partially dried carabao manure from the field. The manure was air-
dried for 2-3 weeks or until totally dried (approximately 30% moisture). Big manure particles were
pounded into small pieces and mixed with desired amount of carbonized rice hull (CRH). Swine manure
was obtained from farmer-adaptor of the no-wash swine growing-fattening technology. Swine manure
which was accumulated during the 3-4 months fattening period was air dried for 2-3 weeks or until
totally dried with an approximate International Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Research ISSN:
2455-6939 Volume:05, Issue:03 "May-June 2019" www.ijaer.in Copyright © IJAER 2019, All rights
reserved Page 386 moisture content of 30%. Manure tea was prepared using fresh or partially dried
carabao manure. A bag of fresh manure was place in a 200-liter capacity plastic drum. Fresh water was
added and allowed to ferment for a week prior to its use. One (1) kilogram of dried carabao and swine
manure was applied per plant as basal, while manure tea was applied at the rate of 100 ml per plant at
planting time and 200 ml per plant every week thereafter until harvest. No fertilizer application was
done in controlplants. Planting and harvesting Two- week old pechay (Black Benhi variety) seedlings
were transplanted at a distance of 20cm between hills and 40cm between rows. The plants were
maintained using recommended cultural management practices such as watering, weeding, and
management of pests. Productivity of pechay was measured in terms of plant height, number of leaves,
length of leaves, and width of leaves, leaf area and yield of marketable plants. Profitability was
determined by calculating the ROI by dividing the net income over production cost. Harvesting was done
within 30 days of growing period. Data gathered were analysed employing the analysis of variance
(ANOVA) and significant treatment mean differences were determined using the Least Significant
Difference (LSD) test at the 5% level of probability. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Effects on Productivity
Plant height Significant differences were observed in height (Table 1) of pechay applied with different
bioorganic fertilizer from animal wastes. Plants fertilized with swine manure were the tallest (35.28 cm)
while those fertilized with manure tea were as tall as those applied with carabao manure and control
treatment with 24.57 cm, 23.74cm and 23.03 cm, respectively. The increase in plant height as a result of
swine manure bio-organicfertilizer application may be attributed to the presence of available nutrients
sufficient enough to promote plant growth. El-Tantawy (2009) and El-Magd, et, al (2016), observed
accelerated growth of the plants applied with organic manure. Number of leaves Leaf count at harvest
showed that plants applied with bio-organic fertilizer from animal wastes had more leaves than plants in
the control (no fertilizer) treatments. However, no significant differences were observed among the
treatments. The production of almost the same number of International Journal of Agriculture and
Environmental Research ISSN: 2455-6939 Volume:05, Issue:03 "May-June 2019" www.ijaer.in Copyright
© IJAER 2019, All rights reserved Page 387 leaves with or without the application of different bio-
organic fertilizers is indicative that the soil in the study area meets the minimum requirement of
nutrients for the production of sufficient number of leaves. This observation is true in almost all
vegetable (Brassicas) researches conducted in the area were the control (without fertilizer application)
plants were able to develop considerable number of leaves but of different length, breadth and weight
subject to available nutrients in the soil. Length of leaves Longest leaves of pechay were manifested
among plants fertilized with swine manure with 19.61cm (T2), followed by those with manure tea (11.68
cm) (T1) and carabao manure (T3) at 11.49cm. Shortest leaves were evident among plants without
fertilizer (T4) with 10.64 cm. ANOVA test, however, showed no significant difference in length of leaves
between applied with manure tea, carabao manure and control plants. The result of the study revealed
that the application of bio-organic fertilizers yielded longer leaves compared with plants without
fertilizers. This may be attributed to the presence of readily available form of nitrogen preferably
ammonium particularly in the urine which was present in swine manure. This implied that the
application of swine manure as main source of organic fertilizer complemented with provided the
needed nutrient for the growth of pechay. Width of leaves Width of individual leaves of pechay at
harvest vary in response to the application of different bio-organic fertilizer from animal wastes. Plants
fertilized with swine manure produced the widest leaves (16.45 cm) followed by plants applied with
carabao manure and manure tea with 10.63 cm and 9.49cm, respectively. Plants without fertilizer had
the narrowest leaves (9.24 cm). ANOVA tests, however, showed no significant differences among plants
applied with carabao manure, caramanure tea and those without fertilizer. The result obtained in this
study revealed that formation of bigger and wider leaves is directly related to the application of
different manures as bio-organic fertilizer. The effect of animal manure particularly swine manure on
the production of bigger and wider leaves of pechay may be related to the important role of the macro
nutrients (N, P and K) which reflect on its vegetable growth. These nutrients play vital roles in plant
physiological processes including photosynthesis among others. Swine manure contains all three of
these nutrientsincluding micronutrient and was made available to the plants through its application.
Gross et al. (2008) found that ammonium was the major form of nitrogen present in the extract
solutions from all manure types and that the nitrogen released after the 14- day extraction by the
different methods from the different manures ranged between 50% and 85%. Alo and Tuan (2014) also
obtained almost similar results in cauliflower applied with