Mint Fertility Experiment

Transcription

1 Mint Fertility Experiment pg. MO The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of nitrogen level on the production of mint hay. However, it was later decided to determine the quantity of mint oil and such quality factors as might be determined. Two locations were established. The first location was on the farm of Sid Elliot in the Trail Crossing district of Jefferson County. The soil is classified as Metolius sandy loam but the soil has a considerably coarser subsoil than the Metolius sandy loam in the Culver area. The average results of the soil test in this area are presented below. The individual results by replication may be found in Appendix Table No. 5. Soil Depth Pounds Per Acre ph K Ca Mg OM% The location was surface irrigated. At the time of fertilizer application in May, the farmer had already applied 400 pounds of 16-20, this figure is approximated as pounds of N in the results. The results obtained from this location are presented in Table No. 5 and show the effect of nitrogen application on tons of mint hay produced per acre, the pounds of oil per acre, menthol acetate, menthol and total alcohols. Yields of mint hay by replication are presented in Appendix Table No. 6. The second location was established on the farm of Dallis Richards in the Agency Plains district on a Madras loam soil. The average soil test values are presented below. The complete soil analysis by replicate is presented in Appendix Table No. 7. This location was also surface irrigated. Soil Depth Pounds Per Acre ph P K Ca Mg 0M%

2 pg. 11 The fertilizer applications at this location were made in May 19 over a former application of approximately(5q# of N applied as Urea, applied earlier in'the growing season. The Urea was mixed with a Phosphate fertilizer. A summary of the results obtained is shown in Table No. 6: The data is presented as tons of mint hay per acre, mint oil per acre, percentage of esters and percentage of total alcohol. The results of bay yield by replicate may be found in Appendix Table No. 8. The Central Oregon Experiment Station is indebted to the Todd Oil Company for determining the menthol and ester contents of the mint oil at both locations of this experiment. The results obtained at the two locations were somewhat erratic, neither location produced statistically significant differences in yield due to level of nitrogen fertilizer. The trends in the results indicate that there is no advantage in applications of nitrogen above 125 pounds. Probably in practice, a range of nitrogen from pounds depending on the farm and previous cropping practices will be the optimum rate. The oil produced in this range of fertilizer application also appears to be at the optimum level wth a satisfactory quality as determined by the percentage of esters and alciho]i. Hay yields produced in 1959 (See Table No. 7) generally tend to verify the results obtained in 19, although, the yields at the Northeys location appear to increase with nitrogen applications up to 350 pounds of Nitrogen. It is questionable whether the oil obtained from the hay increase over the 150 pounds of nitrogen. It is questionable whether the oil obtained for the hay increase over the 150 pound N level (.59 tons) would produce enough oil to pay for the additional $22.00 an acre fertilizer cost with nitrogen at 11 per pound. The soil samples at both locations show a high level of fertility for the elements tested at each location and it is doubtful that any response to these elements would be Obtained by their addition at the pounds of nitrogen per acre.

3 Table No. 5 Effect of Nitrogen Application on Air Dry Mint Hay Yields, Pounds of Oil Per Acre and Percentages of Menthol Acetate, Menthol and Total Alcohol, on the Sid Fl3iot Farm - Trail Crossing, Jefferson County 19 Approx.(1) Farmer Application (2) Expt. Application Total Tons Air Dry Hay Produced Mint Oil Per Acre Lbs. Menthol Acetate % Menthol % Total Alcohols (Menthol) % 6o o So o o o o L.S.D. at.05 (1) Applied as 4001' (2) Fertilizer applied in May Coefficient of Variation 9.59%

4 Table No. 6 Effect of Nitrogen Application on Air Dry flay Yield, Oil Yield and Percentages of Esters and Total Menthol on Dallis Richards Farm - Madras - Jefferson County 19 Nitrogen Application Air Dry Mint Total Approx. Mint Hay Oil Alchha Farmer Expt. Prbduced Per Acre Esters (Mbthol) Application Application Total Tons Lbs. % loo o o L.S.D. at.05 VS Coefficient of Variation 38.7% (1) Applied as a Urea Mixture (2) Applications made as Urea in the middle of May.

5 Table No. 7 Effect of Nitrogen ( 1) Application on Yield of Air Dry Mint Hay in Tons on Two Locations in Jefferson County during Yield is expressed as an average of four replications. Pounds Tons of Air Dry Nitrogen Per Acre , (1) Applied as Urea.

6 Mint fertility Experiment pg. 32 The mint fertility experiment was established on two locations. One on the Sid Elliot farm in the Trail Crossing district. The complete soil analysis is shown in Appendix Table No. The mint hay yields by replication are shown in Appendix Table Noa 6. The second location was established on the farm of Dallas Richards in the agency Plains District. The complete soil analysis for this location in shown in Appendix Table No. 7, and this complete yield of mint hay per acre by replicate is shown in Appendix Table No. 8. The experiment is laid out in a randomized block design with four replications. The experimental rates of nitrogen were applied in the urea form. The fertilizer was surface applied by hand in a mixture with vermiculite (zonalite...plaster aggragete), The applications were made around the middle of May. The plots were 9) feet. At harvest 10 feet was trimmed from each end of the plot. The harvested area was L6 inches wide and 30 feet long. The sample was taken with the forage harvester and the green wt. determine immediately after cutting the sample. A moisture sample of approximetly 3 pounds as taken for moisture determination. The moisture sample was dried in the open. No artificial drying was used. Basically the green material from two replications was composited to obtain the 100 pound green wt. sample for mint distillation. Usually it was necessary to add a portions from the third replication to complete the 100 pound sample. At the Elliot location, these samples were immediately hauled to Corvallis for distillation. This procedure created problems. The mint hay was rapidly losing moisture at the time it was being distilled. The distillation period extended over two days therefore, essentually, even though wts. of the material were taken at the time of distillation, the weights were not valid because they contained varying amounts of moisture in each sample. Another problem was the extra moisture in the material being hauled to Corvallis. A third problem was that the high moisture content of the green mint hay created a heating problem when the hay was packed closely for hauling or in a stack. At the Richards location the material vas allowed to dry in the cloth sacks for several days before hauling to Corvallis; this was an improvement but it was still impossible to correct for variation in moisture between samples. In the future a sample for moisture determination will be taken at the time that particular treatment is distilled so that all treatments can be placed on an even basis with respect to moisture content. The deep corrugations at the Richardts location created a harvesting problem. When one of the front wheels of the harvester was in a corrugation, it was impossible to keep the sickle bar parallel to the soil level. Consequently, the height of cut was not uniform and in several plots clods were mixed with the harvested sample. In these cases the sample was dumped and the soil shaken from the mint hay.

7 Appendix Table No, pg. 33 Soil Test for Sid Elliot Farm Mint Fertility Experiment Location NE * of the SE Sec. 28., R 13 T 13 S.6 1 6, , V Ave , , V Ave , , V , Ave, , (1) Average of duplicate tests

8 Appendix Table No. 6 Y field in Tons Per Acre of Air Dry Mint Hay as Effected by several Nitrogen Rates. (I) "Yields Presented By Replicate and Average of the Four Replications. Sid Elliot Farm Trail Crossing s, Oregon 19 Farm Expt TOtal Tons Air Dry Mint Hay Per Acre Application Application Nitrogen By Replicate N/A Per Acre I II III IV Avera ;o6 2: t --3: M 'go / ' L.S.D..05 N.S. Coefficient of Variation 9.59% (3) Applied as pounds Per Acre of Nas Urea (2) Approximately 400 Pound 36.20

9 pg. 35 Appendix Table xi. 1. Soil Test For Dallas Richards Farm Mint Fertility Experiment Location' Sff 4 of the NE of the NE i Sec* 35 R 23E, 7 9S Level PH P K Ca Mg. OM% a 1.72 II 6.8 III 6.7 Iv ; ave. 6.73' I II 74 III 7.1 IV" 74 6,50 ave.« I II 7.6 III IV 7.2' ave (U) Average of duplicate tests

10 Appendix Table No. 8 Yield in Tons Per Acre of Air Dry Mint Tray as Effected by Several Nitrogen Rates(l). Yields Presented by Replicate and Average of the Four Replications. Da11As Richards Farnr Madras, Oregon 19 Farm Expt. Total Tons Air Dry Mint Nay Per Acre Ap lication Application Nitrogen by Replicate N A N A Per Acre I 11 III TV Avera s i ? N.S.L.D.S..05 se ici of Variation (1) Nitrogen applied as Urea (2) Corrected Y ield