Fourteen hectares against fourteen with 100% biological management. What Brix degrees are and why a reading of 24 against 8 is a different plant.
What was done
Peanut trial in the Chaco, 14 hectares treated against 14 hectares control, with 100% biological management on the treated plot: no synthetic input at all during the cycle. It is the same principle we apply in soybean, with VitaCrop and VitaTricol as the base of the applications and the furrow microbiology from sowing.
What was measured
- Brix degrees: 24 on the biological plot against 8 on the conventional one, measured in the field with a refractometer.
- Sap protein: a marked difference between the biological plot and the conventional one, measured in the field.
The readings were taken in the plot, on the same day and at the same time on both plots, on plants at the same stage. We prefer an uncomfortable number to a comfortable promise: every figure is published with its unit and its context, and what is visual assessment is called visual assessment.
What Brix degrees are
The concentration of sugars in the sap. They are measured in the plot, with the plant standing, and allow nutrition to be adjusted on the spot. More Brix means a metabolically more active plant: more immunity against pests and diseases, more flavour and more market value. A reading of 24 against 8 is not a matter of nuance: it is a different plant.
What it means for the grower
Chaco peanut is an export crop where grain quality is paid for. A plant with more sugar in its sap fills better and reaches the end of the cycle with more defences. And 100% biological management removes the synthetic residue from a product that is eaten.
An honest note
It is a comparison of plots from one season, not a trial with replications, and the figure published is the Brix, not the yield. The yield of that season will be published with its unit and its context once delivery is closed.