Facebook Page View

Agrology Success Stories: Eggplant Yield Increase and Quality Improvement

Agrology Success Stories: Eggplant Yield Increase and Quality Improvement

Through Agrology Success Stories in Greece and Abroad, it is proven that the superior quality and integrated innovative technologies of Agrology’s Functional Crop Nutrition® products, make a difference in crops from the very first applications!

Our goal is to demonstrate that application programs with Agrology’s Functional Crop Nutrition® products are an obvious investment for producers, as the financial benefits exceed the cost of supplemental applications!

One such Success Story was carried out on Greenhouse Eggplant, var. Nadia (SS 2020_56_GR) in Ierapetra, Crete in collaboration with the agricultural store of Tzanis Emmanouil, during the agricultural season 2020-21. Throughout the process, the farmer benefited from the continuous guidance and support offered by Agrology’s Technical Department and the collaborating agricultural store.

The greenhouse was divided into two equal plots, one was used as the Control, while Agrology’s Program was applied to the other plot. In both plots, the farmer used the same plant protection and plant nutrition-fertilization program, apart from the additional applications with Agrology’s Functional Crop Nutrition® products.

Identity of the Success Story

Agricultural Supplies Store: Tzanis Emmanouil

Farmer: Platakis Georgios

Location: Ierapetra, Crete

Cultivation Season: 2020-2021 Tsansplanting Oct. 9, Harvest: Dec. 4 -May 19)

Cultivation: Eggplant, var. Nadia

Success Story area:  0.3 ha

Plant protection: Same for the entire area

Success Story Goals

By applying Agrology’s Functional Crop Nutrition® products during specific growth stages, the farmer managed to achieve significant agronomic benefits for the crop.

The main Objectives of this Success Story were to Increase Eggplant Yield and improve Quality and more precisely:

  1. Eggplant Yield Increase 
  2. Improvement of Quality Characteristics
  3. Increased Postharvest Life

Agrology Functional Crop Nutrition® Program

Picture 1. Functional Crop Nutrition® Program

Silicon and calcium biostimulant (35.0% w/v SiO2 & 35.0% w/v CaO) with a high percentage of available orthosilicic acid, which is the absorbable and assimilable form of silicon by plants:

  • Improved N, P, K uptake (SiO2)
  • Vital for cell wall strength (CaO)
  • Increase resistance to stress (SiO2)
  • Increased fruit firmness and Postharvest Life (CaO)

Application timing:

  • 11 applications
  • 1 application every 2-3 weeks

Recommended Dosage

  • Fertigation – 15 L/ha

XGel® activ Sapphire is a balanced, highly concentrated, NPK gel fertilizer reinforced with Silicium.  It is ideal for all growth stages and is further enhanced by the integration of the E2DA® Technology, which promotes the absorption and translocation of nutrients.

  • Increase of Vegetative Growth
  • Flowering Enhancement
  • Yield Increase

Application timing:

  • 5 applications
  • 1 application every 2-3 weeks

Recommended Dosage

  • Fertigation – 30 L/ha

Complex Highly Concentrated product of Functional Crop Nutrition®, in the form of a thixotropic Gel, rich in Potassium, with Bioavailable Silicon of E-PerForm® Technology and Magnesium.

  • Sustaining of vegetative growth
  • Fruit ripening boost
  • Yield Increase
  • Fruit weight increase

Fruit Quality ImprovementApplication timing:

  • 10 applications
  • 1 application every 2-3 weeks

Recommended Dosage

  • Fertigation – 30 L/ha

Natural Metabolic Catalysts, Amino Acids, and Trace Elements, activated with the E2DA technology aiming at:

  • Cell Divisions Increase
  • Increase of Vegetative Growth
  • Increasing Fruit Size & Weight
  • Increasing Fruit Size & Weight Uniformity

Application timing:

  • 2 applications (Feb. 7, March 14)

Recommended Dosage

  • Foliar – 100 cc/ 100lt

Biostimulant of 20 – L amino acids of plant origin that achieves:

  • Enhancement of plant metabolism
  • Promotion of Vegetative Growth
  • Increase in number, size and quality of fruits
  • Enhancement of cell divisions
  • Improvement of the Plant’s Resistance to Abiotic Stress

Application timing:

  • 2 applications (Feb. 14, March 20)

Recommended Dοsage

  • Foliar – 200 cc/ 100lt

Functional Crop Nutrition® product, in the form of a concentrated Gel, rich in Calcium and fortified with essential elements such as Boron, Magnesium, and Nitrogen. Additionally, it is enriched with bioactive Titanium through the innovative E-PerForm® Technology.

  • Increase of fruit firmness
  • Improvement in fruit Shelf-Life
  • Ideal for promoting fruit growth

Application timing:

  • 2 applications (Feb. 7, March 20)

Recommended Dosage

  • Foliar – 400 cc/ 100lt

Success Stories Results

Measurements on both plots revealed impressive results in the Agrology treatment. Specifically, the results were as follows:

Flower Color Improvement

Picture 2. Improvement of flower color

Fruit Color Improvement

Picture 3. Improvement of fruit color and glossiness

Better Development and Size of Secondary Fruits

Picture 4. Development and Size of Secondary Fruits

Limiting Postharvest Sepsis (fruits maintained at room temperature)

14 days post-harvest:

  • Agrology: 10% non-marketable fruits
  • Control: 20% non-marketable fruits

21 days post-harvest:

  • Agrology: 65% non-marketable fruits
  • Control: Total non-marketable fruits
Picture 5. Marketable fruits (without postharvest sepsis)
Picture 6. Fruits with no post-harvest sepsis

Fruit Firmness (fruits maintained at room temperature)

14 days post-harvest:

  • Small Increase in the firmness of marketable fruits in Agrology treatment compared to the Control (estimated only on fruits without postharvest sepsis)

21 days post-harvest:

  • Agrology: Satisfactory flesh firmness of fruits that did not show post-harvest sepsis (76.7 Shore Units)
  • Control: all fruits were non-marketable due to post-harvest sepsis
Picture 7. Fruit Firmness in Control and Agrology

Eggplant Yield Increase by 10.3 t/ha (+ 11.2%) 

  • Agrology: 102.5 t/ha
  • Control: 92.16 t/ha
Picture 8. Yield (t/ha) in Control and Agrology

Results’ Synopsis – Conclusions

Picture 10. Success Story Synopsis

Learn more information on Agrology’s Functional Crop Nutrition® Programs by the specialized staff of Agrology.

Find out who is the responsible agronomist – seller of your area HERE!

“This experiment was conducted under specific field conditions and should not be applied as a standard without the guidance of an Agronomist or the Agrology Technical Department. In any case, Agrology Functional Crop Nutrition® products and programs must be applied according to the label or the instructions of the technician-agronomists.”