Garlic, onion farmers can look forward to higher yields

Garlic and onion farmers may now be assured of higher yields with the application of processed chicken manure and inorganic fertilizer in combination with gibberelic acid spray.

Edmund Quinit, manager of the DA Region 1 Ilocos Integrated Agriculture Research Center (ILIARC), said researchers of the ILIARC branch station in Batac, Ilocos Norte found that a combination of the organic fertilizer Durabloom and inorganic fertilizer (60-15-45) plus gibberellic acid work well on garlic and onion.

Durabloom is processed chicken manure developed by Dr. Ronaldo Sumaoaong, owner and manager of the Novatech Agri-Food Industries. Processed chicken manure is produced with the application of Biosec, a combination of immobilized live beneficial microorganisms and protein digestive enzyme that digest or degrade fresh chicken manure discovered earlier by Sumaoang.

Wilhelmina P. Castaneda, chief of the ILIARC branch station in Batac, and Leticia A. Bensan demonstrated the technology in the farms of 692 garlic farmers and 131 onion farmers with total area of 325 hectares in two Ilocos Sur towns and three Ilocos Norte towns.

The fertilizer combination per hectare consisted of 10 bags Durabloom, 65 kg nitrogen, 15 kg phosphorus, and 45 kg potash. Two tablets of the growth hormone Berelex, which contains gibberellic acid, were sprayed on garlic and Batanes Jumbo onion at 36 and 56 days after planting (DAP) late in the afternoon. On shallot onion, Berelex was sprayed at 20 and 40 DAP late in the afternoon.

Garlic yielded 5.2 tons per hectare (T/ha) while onion produced 25.45 T/ha. Translated into pesos, gross and net incomes from garlic amounted to P135,182 and P84,182 a hectare, respectively, and resulted in a 1.65 benefit-cost ratio. In onion, yields ranged from 15.15 to 22.15 T/ha.

Garlic yields produced by other fertilizer treatments ranged from 3.4 to 4.6 T/ha. Without Durabloom and gibberellic acid, farmers usually harvest 2.5 T/ha. - Sosimo Ma. Pablico