Prolific Earth Sciences is excited to announce the release of microBIOMETER® PRO. This extensive update has been three years in the making and features improved precision, increased consistency between phones, advanced nutrient metrics and sample geolocating. Please update your microBIOMETER® Reader app to 3.8.6 to access the PRO version.
What’s NEW!
• Test card. We redesigned the test card to reduce variance in results between phone models and better adjust for different lighting.
• Results. The results are now expressed as microbial biomass instead of microbial carbon.
• Moisture: We have changed the moisture assumption in our algorithm from 40% to 20% which is more in line with average soils. We also added a feature to allow users to adjust the moisture assumption to reflect soils with moisture contents closer to 10% or 30%. Moisture assumption for compost testing remains at 40%
• Geolocation: This new feature allows users to save the location where their sample was collected and perform the test at a later time while keeping the recorded sample location.
• Advanced Nutrient Metrics: As an understanding of how microbes contribute to nutrient availability increases, we have added calculated metrics to help users understand how their soil microbes are contributing to nitrogen and carbon stores in the soil. These are results extrapolated from microBIOMETER® results and the calculation and assumptions are detailed in the app informational pop-ups and our website FAQs.
• Soil and Compost: The PRO version will test both soil and compost, however, will no longer support direct testing of compost tea or extract.
With the exception of the test cards, all the supplies as well as the instructions will remain the same whether using the Classic or PRO version. The updated app will prompt you to choose a version so you can still use the classic test cards. We will also be selling Classic cards in refills for the foreseeable future. However, all new Starter Kit purchases will now be the PRO version only and contain the new test cards. For customers with ongoing trials, you may want to continue with the Classic test cards to track changes based on historical benchmarked tests.
In the updated app, we have made significant changes to units, underlying assumptions, and calculations. Therefore, we encourage users to continue with one version within a study or experiment since comparing the absolute values of the two is difficult. We have always encouraged using microBIOMETER® as a benchmark test and to focus on the changes over time. We will continue to supply the microBIOMETER® Classic test cards so that ongoing studies and trials can continue. However, we strongly recommend using the PRO version for all new testing and studies.
We would like to thank all of our customers that have given us feedback over the years. Your comments, both good and bad, have helped us improve the microBIOMETER®. Please keep sharing! And as always, we appreciate your continued support.
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