“Exceptional” Wotan starch potato field trial results
BOKU Work Package Leader for SUSFERT, Renate Weiss and Sappi Chemical Engineer, Nikolaus Schwaiger.
BOKU presented some of the field trial results at SUSFERT’s 10th Consortium Meeting in Catania, Italy where the project’s orange trials are located.
Field trial results exceptional
Postdoc BOKU SUSFERT work package leader, Renate Weiss, presented some of the SUSFERT field trial results on Day 2 of the meeting which were conducted in Austria over the last growing season, including those from the Wotan starch potato field trial in Heinreichs, Austria.
The Heinreichs’ trial used the project’s soil improvers from its partners that contain Groupe Roullier calcium carbonate, BOKU and Sappi lignosulphonates, and probiotics from ABiTEP GmbH and AIT.
“The results for the crop and quality were extremely good. The yield results were elevated, and the starch content was much higher. Additionally, the tubers were more evenly distributed in size. In fact, these exceptional results were not expected,” Weiss said.
Watch the harvest video.
Farmer shows interest in field trial fertiliser
Sebastian Gritsch from BOKU and his fellow researchers digging up the potatoes.
“The farmer showed a keen interest in this product and wanted to know if it was available on the market,” she added.
The fertilisers on SUSFERT are under development and are not currently available to purchase. More can be read on the research behind the soil improvers HERE and HERE.
AIT Scientific Co-ordinator, Günter Brader, and the other Consortium Members were impressed by these and other results that Weiss presented, including trials containing Agrobiogel, BioAgenasol and other NPK products the project is developing.
SUSFERT Scientific Co-ordinator from the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), Centre for Health & Bioresources, Günter Brader, photographed with SUSFERT Co-ordinator and RTDS Senior Manager, Mikael Muegge.
