Even though we prefer field trials with multiple replications, an experienced farmer can often discern a crop’s response in ways that don’t show up statistically.
That’s the case in this split-field trial with foliar-sprayed Vitazyme and WakeUP, applied on soybeans in Iowa in 2016. The yield map from the combine monitor shows a fairly consistent higher yield pattern on the west side (left half of the monitor map below) of the 153-acre field where 13 ounces of Vitazyme and 4 ounces of WakeUP Summer were foliar-applied June 24, 2016. Although the 30-in. rows run straight north and south, the farmer harvested on a slight angle as the yield monitor pattern indicates.
The test farmer asked that his name be withheld. “The landlord doesn’t need to know we had some 70-bu. soybeans here,” he quipped. (The yield monitor legend indicates that 30.26 acres of the field yielded greater than 70 bu. per acre, all of which was on the treated half.) Beans were Asgrow 2431, a 2.4 maturity variety planted May 5. The field had a uniform 2.4 tons of chicken-litter manure applied in spring 2016.
A weigh-wagon sample of 1.7 acres was taken from each side of the field.
The highly visible difference between east side and west side: Soybean stems and leaves remained greener about a week longer in the half of the field foliar-fed with Vitazyme plus WakeUP Summer. “The foliar-fed beans looked healthier right up to harvest,” the farmer reports.
The farmer combined the untreated side Oct. 3. Yield measured from 1.7 acres (a 30-ft. combine header pass, about 2,470 feet long) was 56.8 bu. per acre with beans testing 13.6% moisture.
The farmer had to wait until Oct. 10 to harvest the treated side of the field because these beans remained greener. Yield in the strip harvested from treated beans was 59.2 bu. per acre at 13.6% moisture.
The 2.4 bu. higher yield of treated soybeans from the weigh-wagon strips probably underestimates the actual yield difference over the entire field because that’s the only “over the scales” data available. However, the combine monitor information is very revealing. Overlaying soil maps onto the yield monitor image indicates that in areas with similar soils, yields ranged 10 bu. higher on the treated side. The occasional blips of green on the right side (east half) of the field are in the 60 to 70 bu. range in soil types classified as “loam.” In most “loam” areas of the west half, the monitor shows over 70 bu. yields in the same soil type.
There’s no way to calculate “statistical significance” from this field trial. But a seasoned operator can get a good sense that the Vitazyme / WakeUP combination made a profitable difference. The operator conducted the trial at the request of Dr. Paul Syltie, Director of Research for Vitazyme.
The farmer routinely uses WakeUP with his cropping program, including in-furrow and foliar applications.
We worked directly with Paul Syltie on a Vitazyme / WakeUP trial on corn here at Renewable Farming’s test farm this season. However, a rainy spring left so many waterlogged patches in our test-strip area that yields were too variable for reliable data. That comes with the territory of plot and strip research. In other seasons we’ve had a herd of about 20 deer decimate test plots. (As the only non-GMO grower for miles, our 40-acre patch attracts lots of deer, birds, turkeys and other wildlife.)
In the 2015 season, our own Vitazyme / WakeUP field trial on soybeans showed a 7-bu. yield gain when WakeUP Summer and Vitazyme were foliar-fed together (See nearby chart). That trial had five replications and six control reps.