How And What To Fertilize Cabbage

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

On the influence of fertilizers on the quality of vegetable crops

The quality of vegetables is a whole complex of substances included in them. In vegetable crops, it depends not so much on the absolute content of these substances in the production, but on their ratio to each other.

Considering the wide variety of vegetable crops and their different roles in human nutrition, for a complete characterization of the quality of vegetable crops, the first place can be placed on the content of dry matter and water. The second place is claimed by mineral elements - potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, copper, selenium, cobalt, iodine and some others.

For many vegetables, the content of sugars, organic acids, proteins, vitamins, carotenoids and the presence of specific substances such as essential oils (in onions, garlic and other crops), tannins and taste bitterness (cucumber, etc.) are of great importance.

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Correctly selected ratios of mineral fertilizers can stabilize the bioenergetic balance in plants and significantly increase the content of many biochemical substances in them. Unilateral and accidental application of fertilizers rather causes stress in plants and shakes the balance in their metabolism.

Mineral fertilizers increase, first of all, the content of dry substances, organic acids and sugars, the organoleptic properties of vegetables depend on the ratio of the latter. The content of carotene in tomatoes, carrots, peppers increases significantly under the influence of nitrogen fertilizers, and vitamin C - when using potassium.

Complete mineral fertilizer increases the sugar content in cabbage from 2.4 to 3.3%, in peppers and eggplants - by 0.1-0.2%, in green peas - by 0.3, in onion bulbs - by 0, 4, in carrots - by 0.6%. This is a quite noticeable increase even in taste.

Organic fertilizers also have a strong effect on increasing the sugar content of vegetables and increasing the content of dry matter in them. Thus, the sugar content in eggplants increased from 1.9 to 2.5%, and in zucchini - from 2.3 to 2.9%. However, in most vegetable crops, dry matter and sugar content increase to a greater extent with the use of mineral fertilizers than organic ones.

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The quality of vegetables is greatly influenced by micronutrient fertilizers: boron, manganese, copper, molybdenum, cobalt, etc. On soils insufficiently provided with mobile forms of microelements, pre-sowing treatment of seeds with them, spraying plants or applying to the soil together with other mineral fertilizers accelerated the development of seedlings of tomatoes, peppers and other vegetable crops, increased the yield, accelerated ripening and accumulated more sugars, vitamins and mineral elements in the harvest. Under the influence of trace elements, the dietary and healing qualities of tomatoes, peppers and green crops are significantly improved.

However, if fertilizers are used incorrectly, the quality of vegetable products can deteriorate significantly. For example, when only organic fertilizers are applied, the pickling qualities of cucumbers deteriorate. Where manure was introduced, the cucumbers were soft, without crunch, had an off-odor, and tasted much worse than cucumbers from an area not fertilized with manure. Vitamin C content was also significantly reduced when applying high doses of manure. With the combined application of organic fertilizers with mineral fertilizers, the situation improved and the quality of fresh and salted fruits improved significantly.

The use of fertilizers when growing cabbage

Cabbage is one of the most common vegetable crops, it contains from 5 to 10% dry matter, including 3-5% sugar, 1.5% nitrogenous substances and about 2% ash, rich in vitamins C and K.

The biochemical composition of cabbage is very variable, therefore the effect of certain types and combinations of mineral fertilizers on the quality indicators of cabbage is manifested in different ways. Nitrogen fertilizers have a significant effect on increasing the yield; they can increase the content of dry matter, sugars, and vitamins in cabbage. This changes the yield of standard products and the safety of heads of cabbage during storage.

On drained marsh soils, moderately supplied with mobile phosphorus and exchangeable potassium, doses of 9 g of nitrogen per 1 m² increased the content of ascorbic acid from 17.04 to 22.71 mg%. With a further increase in the doses of nitrogen fertilizers to 12-18 g, the content of ascorbic acid practically did not change. There was a slight increase in dry matter content - by 0.07%.

Nitrogen fertilizers against the background of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers increased the accumulation of dry matter, proteins, total nitrogen and vitamins. The most favorable conditions for obtaining a high yield and high-quality products are achieved when using 12 g of nitrogen per 1 m² under cabbage, while simultaneously applying 9 g of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers.

An increased dose of 24 g of nitrogen in comparison with a dose of 12 g increased the average head weight by 0.5 kg. With short-term storage (4 months), the weight loss of cabbage was approximately the same. During long-term storage (7 months), the total weight of cabbage grown on the background of increased doses of nitrogen fertilizer was significantly lower than the weight of cabbage grown on the background of optimal doses. An unfavorable effect of high doses of nitrogen fertilizers (above 24 g) on the yield of marketable products both at the time of harvesting and after some storage has been established.

Different forms of nitrogen fertilization have approximately the same effect. However, some preference can be given to urea and ammonium nitrate. Thus, when 20 g of urea was introduced under the cabbage against the background of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, the yield of standard heads of cabbage was 7.18 kg per 1 m², and when the same dose of ammonium sulfate was applied, it was 6.8 kg. The quality of the heads of cabbage was approximately the same in both variants.

Phosphate fertilizers, like nitrogen fertilizers, contribute to a significant increase in cabbage yield. On drained marsh soils, well supplied with mobile phosphorus and exchangeable potassium, phosphorus fertilizers increased the cabbage yield from 6.30 to 6.76 kg. At the same time, the content of vitamin C increased from 18.74 to 20.16 mg%, and the content of dry matter - from 6.96 to 7.15%.

On sod-podzolic medium loamy soils, phosphorus fertilizers increased the cabbage yield from 9.52 to 9.94 kg per m², and the content of dry matter, sugar and vitamin C practically did not change.

Potash fertilizers, as well as nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers, significantly increase the yield and quality of cabbage.

The yield, quality and safety of cabbage to a large extent depend on the use of microfertilizers, which enhance photosynthesis, accelerate ripening, which ultimately contributes to an increase in yield, an increase in the content of dry substances, sugar, protein and vitamin C. In foliar feeding 0.05% - boron solution in cabbage significantly increased the content of dry matter, total sugar and vitamin C.

Similar results were obtained by soaking cabbage seeds in a boron solution. The sugar content in cabbage heads increased to a greater extent under the influence of molybdenum, and zinc contributed to the greatest increase in the content of vitamin C. The highest yield increase was obtained when boric acid, zinc sulfate 0.55 g per 1 m² and ammonium molybdic acid were introduced into the soil for digging. 0.1 g together with nitrogen, phosphorus and potash fertilizers N12P9K9.

On acidic soils, under the early white cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, lime fertilizers 400-800 g and manure 6-8 kg / m² must be applied. For late-ripening cabbage varieties, the dose of all fertilizers can be increased by 50%.

The cost of buying fertilizers is always fully paid off by an increase in yield. You should not save on fertilizers, as well as on your health. The cost of fertilizing for cabbage is 6-8 rubles / m², while the yield almost doubles. Consequently, half of the yield of 3-5 kg / m² worth 36-60 rubles / m² will be created through the use of fertilizers. As you can see, the yield increase is higher than all fertilizer costs. Hence, they pay off with interest. Profit from fertilizers when growing high-quality cabbage can be 29-52 rubles per square meter. meter of sowing. For each ruble spent on fertilizers, you can always get at least 4-6 rubles of profit.