How To Do Field Trials

The Vitazyme treated sweet potatoes in the left photo at first glance look similar to the untreated plants in this replicated trial by the Caribbean Agricultural Research and development Institute in St, Kitts, West Indies. The photo on the right shows the same plants with the tubers and leaves removed. The effects of Vitazyme are more apparent now; the Vitazyme treated tubers are more uniform in size and greater in number, and the leaves of the treated plants are bigger. The Vitazyme treated plots yielded significantly more marketable tubers, and produced $1,881.00 more income per acre than the control. The actual yield increase was 48% with Vitazyme.

We encourage all of our customers and potential customers to do field trials on their own farms so that they can see the difference that Vitazyme makes. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• The tank is never empty until you wash it out. Whether applying Vitazyme through a liquid planter or a sprayer, always start the trial without Vitazyme in the tank, then add the Vitazyme after a portion of the field is planted. Do not add Vitazyme to a full tank, and then use the part of the field covered by the next tank as the control. The residue from the Vitazyme mix will contaminate the next tank and blur the boundaries between the trials. In other words, it will make the control side of the field perform better than it normally would. Vitazyme has such powerful active agents that even minute amounts can be effective
• Be careful of spray drift. The Vitazyme effects can manifest even from the mist from a sprayer. Be especially careful in greenhouses if trials are conducted with high pressure sprayers. The mist with Vitazyme can fill the whole house and make the control grow better than it normally would.
• See what you are looking at. When evaluating trials driving by the field in the pickup is not an effective way to do it. Ditto for taking a glance when passing by with the sprayer. Large yield differences can cloak themselves in foliage or differences in fertility or drainage and be missed by casual observation. Dig up a few plants from the treated portion of the field and the control side, carefully remove the soil from the roots, and set them side by side. See A Note on Sampling Methods for guidelines. Look for differences in leaf color, leaf size, stem size, number of flowers and fruit set, and root mass and structure. Many times subtle differences will add up to big yield differences.
• Keep track of the actual yield. If you have a yield monitor on a harvester the task is much easier than if you don’t. Absent a yield monitor, you need to measure a part of both the Vitazyme treated and the control sections of the field and then measure the actual volume or weight from the measured area. This is the only way to accurately determine yield.
• Measure the quality. If possible, measure the ‘pack out’, or the actual portion of the crop that is salable, and if there are different grades of the crop, measure what percent of the crop is in each grade. Often this can make a big difference in the profit from a crop.

If you take accurate measurements please send them to us. We welcome legitimate data, and will do statistical analysis, if appropriate, and write a field report based upon the information sent.