The Long-Term Permanent Plot Experiments in Israel

This publication published by IPI and IFA is a report of two long-term fertilization experiments (LTFE) which were established in Israel in 1961 by the Volcani Institute of Agricultural Research to provide a scientific basis to support the transition from rain-fed to irrigation-fed agriculture that was occurring in many parts of the country. The objectives of the experiments were to develop and test new fertilization regimes under controlled irrigation conditions in semi-arid and arid climates; to adopt new cash crops grown under irrigation and to study their short and long-term response to fertilizer and manure application rates; and to improve and calibrate soil tests for evaluating nutrients’ availability to plants.