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Exploring the merits of EcoTea™ seed treatment and foliar application on crop production

Privately Funded by the Overton Environmental (makers of EcoTeaTM)


Objective

To quantify the effects of EcoTeaTM seed treatment and foliar applications on plant health and crop production. 


Methodology

Site: Fairview Research Farm on RR 35, Fairview. Some surface soil characteristics of soil samples taken just before seeding in 2022 are shown in Table 17.

  • Cropping History: In rotation of Canola (2020) - Wheat (2021). Eco Tea treatments have been applied to the plots since 2019

  • Crop seeded in 2022: Canola (CS2500CL)

  • Experimental design: Randomized complete block design with 4 replications and the following 4 treatments:

  • Untreated control (T0)

  • EcoTeaTM dry seed treatment alone (T1)

  • EcoTeaTM foliar feeder alone (T2)

  • EcoTeaTM dry seed treatment + EcoTeaTM foliar feeder (T3)

  • EcoTeaTM HDI Residue Digestor sprayed on plots Fall of 2021

  • The trial had a total of 20 test plots (6 m x 20 m). A guard plots (also 6 m x 20 m in size) on both sides of the test plots to eliminate any crop contamination of the test plots. 

  • Seeding rate of canola: 75 plants per square meter.

  • Seeding Date: May 24, 2022, with a 6-row drill at soil Moisture of 20.4 VMC%, and soil temperature of 10.3°C

  • Pre-emergent was with StartUp glyphosate. Hand weeding of plots was done once.


Results

Grain Production & Quality

Eco Tea products have been applied on plots since the fall of 2019. In 2022, there was no significant difference in grain yield between the control and Eco tea Treatments imposed on Canola (ANOVA, p-value = 0.705). However, the grain yield showed some tendencies for improvement following the application of a residue digester on the crop stubble in the fall of the previous year (2021) (Figure 5). 


Similarly, EcoTea Treatments had no significant improvement in Canola grain protein content (ANOVA= 0.30) (Figure 6).

Figure 5. Canola yield in 2022 following the Eco Tea treatment applications
Figure 6. Canola grain protein content in 2022 following Eco Tea treatment applications
Picture: EcoTeaTM dry seed treatment + EcoTeaTM foliar feeder (T3)
Teepee Creek Research Sites

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