Agronomic benefits of long term trials

Abstract

Long term trials have been established in favour of exploring and observing plant and soil interrelations on site. We may determine long term trials as live instruments providing ceteris paribus conditions in temporal sequences. This review is dealing with the introduction to major long term trials in the World and in Hungary. Giving a brief summary on plant nutritional research roots beginning with some data from Homer, and the fabulous initial willow tree experiment of van Helmont, as well as the basic inventions of physiological processes by von Liebig, Lawes and Boussingault. The most profound long term trials like Padova’s Orto Botanico, the Linné Garden of Uppsala and the Broadbalk of Rothamsted are presented in the lecture. Agronomic, educational and scientific benefits of the major Hungarian long term trials are also discussed from Westsik 1929 via Maronvásár and the National Plant Nutrition Trials (OMTK) founded in 1963. There is a list of experimental sites giving information on the most important recent long term trial locations and the activities.