#vermichar

Organic fertilizers in sweet potato cultivation enhance soil fertility, boost crop productivity, and ensure food security, especially in staple potato-producing regions. Organic sweet potatoes have improved nutritional profiles, addressing malnutrition and supporting SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being. Additionally, organic inputs reduce reliance on synthetic chemicals, aligning with SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production and SDG 13: Climate Action. This study evaluates various organic fertilizer sources on the growth, yield, and quality of three sweet potato varieties—Bintong, Bengueta, and Okinawan. A split-plot design was used, with variety as the main plot and six fertilizer treatments as subplots: full NPK, reduced NPK, and reduced NPK supplemented with vermichar, vermicompost, biochar, and Black Soldier Fly (BSF) frass. Results revealed that Bengueta exhibited the highest computed yield (15.43 t/ha), though differences among varieties were not statistically significant. Among fertilizer treatments, BSF frass combined with reduced NPK significantly produced the highest yield (15.94 t/ha), followed by vermicompost (15.67 t/ha), highlighting the potential of organic amendments to outperform full synthetic fertilizer in tuber production. Combinations like Bengueta × Biochar and Bintong × Vermichar demonstrated superior performance in yield and Total Soil Stability (TSS). Bengueta is recommended for high-yielding production, while BSF frass and biochar are effective organic inputs for improving yield and quality, with future research validating these findings across various environments.

Organic fertilizers in sweet potato cultivation enhance soil fertility, boost crop productivity, and ensure food security, especially in staple potato-producing regions. Organic sweet potatoes have improved nutritional profiles, addressing malnutrition and supporting SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being. Additionally, organic inputs reduce reliance on synthetic chemicals, aligning with SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production and SDG 13: Climate Action. This study evaluates various organic fertilizer sources on the growth, yield, and quality of three sweet potato varieties—Bintong, Bengueta, and Okinawan. A split-plot design was used, with variety as the main plot and six fertilizer treatments as subplots: full NPK, reduced NPK, and reduced NPK supplemented with vermichar, vermicompost, biochar, and Black Soldier Fly (BSF) frass. Results revealed that Bengueta exhibited the highest computed yield (15.43 t/ha), though differences among varieties were not statistically significant. Among fertilizer treatments, BSF frass combined with reduced NPK significantly produced the highest yield (15.94 t/ha), followed by vermicompost (15.67 t/ha), highlighting the potential of organic amendments to outperform full synthetic fertilizer in tuber production. Combinations like Bengueta × Biochar and Bintong × Vermichar demonstrated superior performance in yield and Total Soil Stability (TSS). Bengueta is recommended for high-yielding production, while BSF frass and biochar are effective organic inputs for improving yield and quality, with future research validating these findings across various environments.

Organic fertilizers in yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) cultivation promotes sustainable agriculture and advances key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by improving soil fertility and yields (SDG 2), reduces synthetic inputs (SDG 12), improves soil health and biodiversity (SDGs 13 and 15), and supports smallholder farmers (SDGs 8 and 10). The study evaluated the effects of different propagation techniques and organic fertilizer supplementation on the growth, yield of Yacon. Two propagation techniques—cuttings and rhizomes—were assessed with five fertilization treatments: fullNPK (50-20-30 kg ha⁻¹), and reduced NPK (25-10-15 kg ha⁻¹) supplemented with vermichar, vermicompost, biochar, or Black Soldier Fly (BSF) frass. Measurements included plant height, branch number, marketable tuber number and weight, yield per hectare. Cuttings significantly increased plant height at 100 and 150 days after planting. While propagation had no significant effect on yield, cuttings with BSF frass consistently showed higher values across indicators. BSF frass significantly increased the marketable tuber number and weight, total yield per hectare (12.82 t ha⁻¹), indicating superior performance. Vermicompost and biochar also improved yield but were less effective than BSF frass. The interaction of propagation and fertilization revealed that the combination of cuttings and BSF frass produced the highest plant height (121.03 cm), yield (12.94 t ha⁻¹). While not statistically significant, trends indicate that organic fertilizers with reduced NPK enhance yield and quality. In conclusion, BSF frass with reduced NPK and cuttings sustainably improve yield while lowering reliance on synthetic fertilizers.

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of vermichar as organic soil amendment on bell pepper and its effect on soil chemical properties. The study was laid out using the Randomized Complete Block (RCB) design to test the following treatments: T1-Control, T2-90-60-30 kg NPK, T3-90-60-30 kg NPK plus 5 bags vermichar, T4-90-60-30 kg NPK plus 10 bags vermichar, T5-90-60-30 NPK plus 15 bags vermichar and T6-10 bags vermichar. The experiment was established at the College of Agriculture, Isabela State University, Echague, Isabela from November 2023 to March 2024. Result of the study shows that the application of vermichar improves soil pH, soil nitrogen (0.01-0.22%), soil P (160.14-519.24 ppm), K (214-310ppm), Co (2.71-6.40ppm), Zn (2.89-18.93ppm). In addition, no significant effect was also observed in terms of iron and manganese when soil was applied with 5 10 15 bags of vermichar. Growth of bell pepper was also affected by the increased rate of vermichar application due to the inherent nutrient present in the material. In terms of crop productivity, bell pepper applied with 10 to 15 bags plus the addition of recommended amount of NPK recorded the highest number of fruit and yield resulting also to have the highest return of investment compared to control plants.