Research proposal for Ecosan: testing crop response to ecological sanitation treatment product urine
Hello members,
The WAND Foundation will be starting the ecosan project next month to look at the response of crops (e.g. Bittergourd (Ampalaya), Petchay, Mongo, Corn, Coconut and Bananas) to ecological sanitation treatment product urine. Please see below the research proposal.
If you would like to get involved in this project, please do contact me: ad@scienceforhumanity.net.
Thank you,
Anu
Concept Note: Research on the Appropriate Urine Application Rates for Different Crops
By Elmer Sayre, Robert Gensch and Gina Itchon
Rationale:
While we are promoting the re-use of human waste for agriculture, until now we do not have evidence backed by hard-nosed scientific inquiry on the response of different crops to different application levels of urine. Why urine? It is because with our introduction of EcoPee’s or urine containers, we have potentially available urine available for fertilizer to our crops. If we know the application rates, then it will have tremendous significance to our farmers who cannot afford to purchase commercial fertilizer. Urine is also sterile according to WHO standards and thus can be utilized immediately.
Research methods:
We selected several crops important in Misamis Oriental and in the whole of Mindanao as the subject of inquiry. These crops are: Bittergourd (Ampalaya), Petchay, Mongo, Corn, Coconut and Bananas.
The design of choice for bittergourd, petchay and mongo will be randomized complete block (RCBD). The design for coconuts and bananas will be discussed later. Why we will use RCBD? This is because we want to study the response of crops to application of different urine levels and this is our single fixed factor of interest. All other factors will be constant.
To compare urine application, we will divide the field used in the experiment into rows which will be planted with the crop mentioned above. Each of the crops will have different blocks/areas. We will ensure that the plants on a particular row will have the same environmental conditions such as soil, water and sunlight so that these factors will not affect the experiment. Each of the rows will be divided into different segments, each segment to be randomly assigned with the level of urine to be applied. The design is shown below:
Segment
1 2 3 4
Row 1 F1 F4 F3 F2
Row 2 F4 F3 F1 F2
Row 3 F4 F1 F3 F2
Row 4 F3 F2 F4 F1
The four segments illustrated above will increase (or decrease) depending on the final decision of what urine treatments/levels to use.
A control block will also be installed beside or near the experimental block to compare results. The control block will have the same constant variables as the experimental block/s (eg. sunlight, water, soil) but urine will not be applied to it.
The rules for randomization will be that:
• Each replicate is randomized separately.
• Each treatment has the same probability of being assigned to a given experimental unit within a replicate.
• Each treatment must appear at least once per replicate.
The field testing will be done at the PuVep in Manresa (subject to negotiation) and at the WAND Foundation in Libertad. The WAND will enlist a farmer-cooperator or cooperators for the use of his field in the experiment. A 2,000 sq.m. garden in Libertad owned by the WAND will also be utilized. It is better to run similar parallel experiments in order to ensure validity and reliability of the results.
Prior to the field use of urine in the experiment, the urine has to be analyzed first in a suitable laboratory in Cagayan de Oro City to determine its nutrient values. From these values, the theoretic crop requirement will be determined and actual testing done. The crop requirement will depend on the type of soil the experimental area has so the soil has to be analyzed first by the Bureau of Soils in Cagayan de Oro (pH values, macro and micro element contents) and requirement of different crops under study determined, at least for now, on a theoretical modality.
The data of interest for the different crops will be:
• Bitter-gourd - total kilos of bitter-gourd harvested
• Pechay – kilos of pechay
• Mongo – harvest of mongo seeds in kilos
We would like to measure the growth rates, color and general appearance of the crops but this may complicate the research plus the time element in gathering the data. Harvests upon maturity maybe the single most important element we will be interested about. However given time, financial and personnel availability, we can include as many variables as we would like.
Analysis of the data:
ANOVA will be mainly used in order to analyze the data comparing the null and alternative hypotheses, the null hypothesis being that there is no difference in different urine applications to the response of crops.
We will send our data to a statistician for analysis. We can run the data also to popular stat packages like Microstat and SPSS.
Coconuts and Bananas:
The design for coconuts and bananas will be different and we will not use the RCBD in this situation. What we will do is to do a simple treatment and control set-up and compare the results. The control plants will have no treatment at all with the experimental plants treated to different levels of urine. Other variables such as light, water and soil will also be similar for all plants. The practical way to do this will be to select a farm and designate some plants as no treatment and some with treatment. The plants will still be randomly selected.
The resulting evidence gathered from these trials will be used in order to compare and improve the theoretic calculations of the Philippine urine guide and to extrapolate if possible with other crops.
The WAND Foundation’s demo farm in Libertad can be used for this experiment.
Research budget:
To be determined, with counterpart funds from the iBoP-Asia research fund.
The WAND Foundation will be starting the ecosan project next month to look at the response of crops (e.g. Bittergourd (Ampalaya), Petchay, Mongo, Corn, Coconut and Bananas) to ecological sanitation treatment product urine. Please see below the research proposal.
If you would like to get involved in this project, please do contact me: ad@scienceforhumanity.net.
Thank you,
Anu
Concept Note: Research on the Appropriate Urine Application Rates for Different Crops
By Elmer Sayre, Robert Gensch and Gina Itchon
Rationale:
While we are promoting the re-use of human waste for agriculture, until now we do not have evidence backed by hard-nosed scientific inquiry on the response of different crops to different application levels of urine. Why urine? It is because with our introduction of EcoPee’s or urine containers, we have potentially available urine available for fertilizer to our crops. If we know the application rates, then it will have tremendous significance to our farmers who cannot afford to purchase commercial fertilizer. Urine is also sterile according to WHO standards and thus can be utilized immediately.
Research methods:
We selected several crops important in Misamis Oriental and in the whole of Mindanao as the subject of inquiry. These crops are: Bittergourd (Ampalaya), Petchay, Mongo, Corn, Coconut and Bananas.
The design of choice for bittergourd, petchay and mongo will be randomized complete block (RCBD). The design for coconuts and bananas will be discussed later. Why we will use RCBD? This is because we want to study the response of crops to application of different urine levels and this is our single fixed factor of interest. All other factors will be constant.
To compare urine application, we will divide the field used in the experiment into rows which will be planted with the crop mentioned above. Each of the crops will have different blocks/areas. We will ensure that the plants on a particular row will have the same environmental conditions such as soil, water and sunlight so that these factors will not affect the experiment. Each of the rows will be divided into different segments, each segment to be randomly assigned with the level of urine to be applied. The design is shown below:
Segment
1 2 3 4
Row 1 F1 F4 F3 F2
Row 2 F4 F3 F1 F2
Row 3 F4 F1 F3 F2
Row 4 F3 F2 F4 F1
The four segments illustrated above will increase (or decrease) depending on the final decision of what urine treatments/levels to use.
A control block will also be installed beside or near the experimental block to compare results. The control block will have the same constant variables as the experimental block/s (eg. sunlight, water, soil) but urine will not be applied to it.
The rules for randomization will be that:
• Each replicate is randomized separately.
• Each treatment has the same probability of being assigned to a given experimental unit within a replicate.
• Each treatment must appear at least once per replicate.
The field testing will be done at the PuVep in Manresa (subject to negotiation) and at the WAND Foundation in Libertad. The WAND will enlist a farmer-cooperator or cooperators for the use of his field in the experiment. A 2,000 sq.m. garden in Libertad owned by the WAND will also be utilized. It is better to run similar parallel experiments in order to ensure validity and reliability of the results.
Prior to the field use of urine in the experiment, the urine has to be analyzed first in a suitable laboratory in Cagayan de Oro City to determine its nutrient values. From these values, the theoretic crop requirement will be determined and actual testing done. The crop requirement will depend on the type of soil the experimental area has so the soil has to be analyzed first by the Bureau of Soils in Cagayan de Oro (pH values, macro and micro element contents) and requirement of different crops under study determined, at least for now, on a theoretical modality.
The data of interest for the different crops will be:
• Bitter-gourd - total kilos of bitter-gourd harvested
• Pechay – kilos of pechay
• Mongo – harvest of mongo seeds in kilos
We would like to measure the growth rates, color and general appearance of the crops but this may complicate the research plus the time element in gathering the data. Harvests upon maturity maybe the single most important element we will be interested about. However given time, financial and personnel availability, we can include as many variables as we would like.
Analysis of the data:
ANOVA will be mainly used in order to analyze the data comparing the null and alternative hypotheses, the null hypothesis being that there is no difference in different urine applications to the response of crops.
We will send our data to a statistician for analysis. We can run the data also to popular stat packages like Microstat and SPSS.
Coconuts and Bananas:
The design for coconuts and bananas will be different and we will not use the RCBD in this situation. What we will do is to do a simple treatment and control set-up and compare the results. The control plants will have no treatment at all with the experimental plants treated to different levels of urine. Other variables such as light, water and soil will also be similar for all plants. The practical way to do this will be to select a farm and designate some plants as no treatment and some with treatment. The plants will still be randomly selected.
The resulting evidence gathered from these trials will be used in order to compare and improve the theoretic calculations of the Philippine urine guide and to extrapolate if possible with other crops.
The WAND Foundation’s demo farm in Libertad can be used for this experiment.
Research budget:
To be determined, with counterpart funds from the iBoP-Asia research fund.
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