The effects of nitrogen, phosphate and potash application on carrots, potatoes and sweet corn

Abstract

Increased food production is required to feed the expanding world population. It is known that the level of nutrients in the soil is one of the important factors affecting the yield and composition of plants. While fertilizer recommendations are available in other areas, their effects on horticultural crops should be understood and critically established for mid-central Saskatchewan. At present, the use of fertilizers is of considerable interest to vegetable growers in this province. Field experiments with varying fertilizer rates have already been conducted, but environmental effects, other than fertilizer level, are difficult to control. In particular the leaching of some applied fertilizer elements out of the root zone is a problem in field experiments. It was the purpose of this thesis to present results of experiments designed to study the effects of fertilizers on carrots, potatoes and sweet corn where the applied fertilizer was retained in the potential root area. Furthermore, greater control of environmental factors was obtained in the greenhouse with fan-pad cooling equipment.