The Saxmundham rotation experiments: rotation I

At Saxmundham Experimental Station in East Suffolk a four-course rotation experiment testing fertilizer treatments has continued with only minor modifications since the 1899/1900 crop year, the crops being wheat, roots (mainly mangolds), barley and either beans, peas or clover. Factorial combinations of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), with two additional treatments testing farm-yard manure and bonemeal, are applied annually to the same plots regardless of crop.

All crops, particularly mangolds and sugar beet, yielded badly without P. N was as important as P for cereals, but had little effect on mangolds and sugar beet unless P was also applied; its effects on the legume yields were slight. On this heavy soil K had little effect on the yield of any crops except the legumes. RESP-5402