Shandong Commercial Potato Field Trial: 31% Yield Gain and Better Tuber Uniformity with Microbial Soil Amendment

Results at a glance

Metric	Untreated control	Sunrise treated
Tuber yield	58,035 kg/ha	76,275 kg/ha (+31%)
Yield gain	n/a	+18,240 kg/ha
Tuber size	Smaller	Larger
Size uniformity	Less uniform	More uniform, better packout

The problem

A commercial potato grower in Shandong, China wanted to increase tuber yield and improve crop uniformity without overhauling his existing fertility program. The goal was to evaluate whether a multi-strain microbial inoculant could strengthen root development and nutrient efficiency enough to move the needle on marketable yield and packout consistency. The trial evaluated Sunrise Soil Probiotic, an OMRI Listed and CDFA registered multi-strain microbial inoculant of beneficial bacteria and fungi, applied twice at 45 g/ha (50 billion CFU/g) on a field transplanted February 1 at 48,000 plants per hectare. Harvest occurred on May 7, with treated and untreated zones evaluated head-to-head under matched field conditions to isolate Sunrise as the differentiating input.

Before, during, and after

Before
The untreated control field yielded 58,035 kg/ha. Side-by-side comparison photos from the trial show control potatoes were smaller and less uniform in size than those from the treated plot. For commercial potato production, that kind of size variability hurts packout consistency and cuts directly into returns per hectare, since buyers pay premiums for uniform, graded tubers. Without supplemental microbial support in the rhizosphere, the untreated plants relied solely on the conventional fertility program to drive both yield and tuber development, and the result was a baseline harvest typical of the production system but well short of what the field could deliver with stronger soil biology.

After
The Sunrise-treated field yielded 76,275 kg/ha, a gain of 18,240 kg/ha over the control and a 31.43% yield increase. Treated potatoes were also visibly larger and more uniform, pointing to stronger overall crop performance and better marketability at packout. The yield lift and uniformity improvement are consistent with what a well-colonized rhizosphere contributes to tuber development: improved nutrient cycling, root stimulation, and more balanced microbial activity in the root zone. For commercial potato growers looking to lift kg/ha and tighten size grading without restructuring their fertility program, this trial demonstrates what an OMRI Listed multi-strain microbial soil amendment like Sunrise can deliver under real production conditions.

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Product used in this trial

Sunrise Soil Probiotic

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