The Effect of Moringa Leaf Spray on the Yield of Vegetable Crops

Edward Berkelaar, Ph.D. with Jenny Johns

ECHO, N. Ft. Myers, FL 33917 USA

Introduction
Last year our organization learned of some research done on moringa in Nicaragua by Nikolas and Gabriele Foidl of BIOMASA. In that study, yield increases of 25-30% were reported for onions, bell pepper, soya, maize, sorghum, coffee, tea, chili, and melon.
The primary goal of our project is to replicate the experiments done in Nicaragua under the different different growing conditions we have in Florida. We would also like to determine how leaf sprays made from moringa compare to leaf sprays made from other species, and whether moringa sprays are still effective if they are made from dried or fermented moringa leaves.
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Materials and Methods

experiment 1:
radish (Raphanus sativus) and bush bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) 4 treatments
control: water & surfactant spray low moringa: 12.5 g moringa in 100 mL water with surfactant medium moringa: 25 g moringa in 100 mL water with surfactant high moringa: 50 g moringa in 100 mL water with surfactant

25 mL of solution applied per plant 9 replicates for radish and 10 replicates for bean spray applied every two weeks
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 experiment 2:
cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) 6 treatments
control: water & surfactant not sprayed moringa: ratio of 25 g of moringa in 100 mL water with surfactant moringa applied less frequently Leuceana: ratio of 25 g of Leuceana in 100 mL water with surfactant Leuceana: ratio of 12.5 g of Leuceana in 100 mL water with surfactant

25 mL of solution applied per plant 10 replicates per treatment sprayed every two weeks except treatment 4
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 moringa spray:
moringa planted densely (~10-15 cm spacing) top 30-40 cm of plants cut (fresh growth) blended to a paste with water filtered through cloth and paper

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Results: Experiment 1 - radish

Effect of Moringa Spray on Radish
radish yield (g fresh weight)
Treatment control low moringa medium moringa high moringa % increase -26 (p=0.26) 94 (p<0.0001) 23 (p=0.21)

400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0

co n w -m ed m gh hi -m or
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- increased yield due to heavier radish roots

tr o

or

lo

spray treatment

or

Results: Experiment 1 - bean

Effect of Moringa Spray on Bean
bean yield (g fresh weight)
Treatment control low moringa medium moringa high moringa % increase -56 (p=0.045) 65 (p=0.022) 56 (p=0.047)

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 control lowmor medmor highmor

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- increased yield due to higher numbers of beans per plant

spray treatment

Results: Experiment 2 - cowpea

spraying with moringa did not result in increased yield

% change verses non-sprayed plants

% change verses water-sprayed plants Treatment moringa % change 9.9

Treatment
moringa moringa (appled less freq.) Leucaena low Leucaena

% change
-2.2 0.02 0.68 -1.6

moringa (applied less freq.)

Leucaena low Leucaena

12.4
13.1 10.6
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Summary
compared with spraying with water, spraying with moringa enhanced yield of radish and bush bean results from experiment 2 suggest that cowpea yields were not increased in moringa sprayed plants compared to non-sprayed plants

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Future experiments
compare effect of moringa spray applied to plants growing in soils with differing levels of fertility
compare effect of different methods of making moringa sprays
from dried or fermented leaves

test effect of moringa sprays on various other crop species test effect of moringa against leaf sprays made from other plant species
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