Best Management Practices for Sustainable Crop Nutrition in Bulgaria

IPNI-2008-BGR-1

23 Mar 2012

2011 Annual Interpretive Summary


In 2008, a 5-year project was established in Bulgaria with the general goal of improving cultivation systems in Bulgaria’s agriculture through efficient and sustainable use of plant nutrients. The project involves five Bulgarian organizations: The University of Forestry, Agricultural University, “Nikola Poushkarov” Institute of Soil Science, Executive Soil Resources Agency (Ministry of Agriculture), and the National Plant Protection Service (Ministry of Agriculture). About 50 researchers and discipline specialists take part in the project. Project activities include: 1) Evaluation of soil nutrient status through summarization of past national soil surveys and more recent localized regional surveys; 2) Systematic summarization of past relevant soil fertility research and identification of information gaps; 3) Nutrient omission/addition plot trials on target crops; 4) Development of tools for site-specific nutrient management that deliver updated recommendations to farmers and farmer advisers; and 5) Outreach activities to assure appropriate use of the developed tools.

After conducting a soil test survey of pilot regions and creating a GIS database with soil and field data attributes in 2009 and 2010, layers were created with low, medium, and high content of P and K. The emphasis in 2011 was in the Northwest and Southwest parts of Bulgaria where additional soil sampling was conducted to better assess the soil fertility tendencies of these regions. In 2009, an Access database was structured for past soil fertility research and to accommodate new project data. In 2010, data obtained from long-term crop field experiments after 1974 were entered into the database. The archive now consists of data from 87 experiments at 26 sites and 8 main soil types.

This (2011) was the third year of field omission/addition field plot trials (NPK or NPKMg as complete treatments). Crops tested were wheat, barley, maize, sunflower, potatoes, tomatoes, pepper, apricots, peaches, chokeberry, and vine grape. Results in 2011 in most cases confirm the tendencies found in previous years but at higher yield levels—most of the tested crops respond to fertilization with the NPK treatment producing the highest yields in many sites. Highly significant interactions among nutrients are being frequently measured with N responses (averaging close to 1 t/ha for wheat) larger than P and K responses for most crops. The project is well on its way to creating the foundation for new fertilizer best management practices for Bulgaria. IPNI-14