ESTIMATION OF NUTRIENT BALANCES IN FIELD VEGETABLES WITH THE COMPUTER PROGRAM “STANK”

Provision of an individual advisory service concerning plant nutrition and use of manure is an effective way to minimise nitrogen and phosphorus leaching. STANK is a planning computer program developed primarily as a means to achieve a good management of manure, but it can also be used on farms which do not apply manure and on farms growing field vegetables. Use of STANK in the advisory service for vegetable growers has shown that the program works well for these crops.

Nutrient balances were calculated both for individual crops and for whole farms. The results show considerable variation among the farms with respect to their utilization of supplied nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.