Abstract
Organic production is one of the fastest growing food sectors globally. However, average yield in organic vegetable production is up to 33% lower than in conventional production. This difference could be due to higher fertilization rates in conventional, compared to organic, farming. We aimed to compare yield and quality characteristics of carrots produced under equal nitrogen fertilization rates over four years in organic and conventional conditions. We found a 14.5% higher marketable, and 10.0% lower discarded, yield in the organic compared to the average conventional treatments. In addition, carrots managed organically had 14.1% lower nitrate and 10.0% higher vitamin C content than carrots managed conventionally. There were no convincing effects of cultivation system on the nitrogen, total sugar, or dry matter content of carrots. Organically managed carrots were free of pesticide residues, while several residues were found in carrots managed conventionally. Our study reveals that organic management of carrots may exceed that of conventional methods in yield and several quality characteristics, while being free of pesticide residues. Organic fertilizer gave an advantage over mineral fertilizer, when equal rates of nitrogen were used in both production systems.
Highlights
Organic production continues to be one of the fastest growing food sectors globally [1], and is often promoted as a sustainable alternative to conventional agriculture [2]
The effect of treatment on the share of discarded yield depended on year; in 2011–2013 discarded yield was generally lower in organic treatment (ORG), but in 2014 it was lower in CON-AV
We found higher marketable and lower discarded yield, and better quality characteristics of carrots, in organic compared to conventional management
Summary
Organic production continues to be one of the fastest growing food sectors globally [1], and is often promoted as a sustainable alternative to conventional agriculture [2]. The organic vegetable market is being largely driven by increased consumer demand for organic food [3,4,5,6], as it is perceived to be healthier and safer for the environment [5,7,8]. The area of organic vegetable production has increased more than six-fold worldwide during recent decades [9], the performance and benefits of organic agriculture need further research. Two global meta-analyses concluded that across all crops the average yield of organic production is The yield gap in horticulture has been shown to vary a lot between experiments comparing organic and conventional systems [7,11,12,13,14].
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