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microBIOMETER® testing for soil health and yield stability

Nature article reports that microbial biomass estimates by microBIOMETER® correlates with soil health and yield stability. The microBIOMETER® soil test was used to report microbial biomass in a recent Nature publication*. Scientists Dr. Judith Fitzpatrick and Dr. Brady Trexler of microBIOMETER® collaborated with a University of Tennessee team headed by

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soil carbon

Soil Carbon Q & A with Dr. Judy

We recently received the following questions from one of our customers and below are the responses from Dr. Fitzpatrick. Part of my research is surrounding the soil organic carbon results we attained from microBIOMETER®, and I am wondering if someone from your team could provide more information on what this

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Improving soil health and carbon content

Modern agriculture practices have led to the systematic degradation of the world’s soil and release of carbon into the environment. The effects are increased need for expensive and environmentally dangerous inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides), the loss of fertile top soil, decrease in water holding capacity of soil and dangerously

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Soil carbon is a complex creature.

Soil carbon is important to soil health because it enables microbial life. Microbes are able to obtain carbon directly from plant exudates, however, much of their carbon source is from the dead plant and plant derived materials that they digest.  We harvest much of the above ground matter from crops, but

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soil fertility

The Role Microbes Play in Increasing Soil Fertility

The microbial population or microbial biomass (MB) reflects soil fertility. For over 2 million years, plants and soil microbes have worked together to create what we call fertile “soil”. How do they work together? The plant supplies the microbes with carbon rich food. The microbes then mine the soil for

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Carbon Sequestration

Increasing your soil microbes increases carbon sequestration. Carbon is stored in the soil as “humic materials” i.e. C,N,P,K etc.; rich organic matter which is the soil organic carbon or sequestered carbon in the soil. ­­­­­ The formation of humus, the final stable carbon, is a stepwise process. All organic carbon

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Variance in soil samples explained

Often, we are asked about variance – different results when you test the same sample. Our answer is that nature produces most of this variance. To explain, when you measure out 0.5 cc of soil, you have on average about 0.6 grams of soil. If your microBIOMETER® results read 300ugMBC/gram

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How do plants farm soil microbes?

UPDATE: Dr. White sat down with Dr. Fitzpatrick and Jeff Lowenfels to discuss rhizophagy. Click here to view the webinar. (Jan. 15, 2021) A summary of James F. White’s presentation at BioFarm, 2020 (Nov. 12, 2020).  The rhizophagy cycle is an amazing process recently discovered by James White’s laboratory at

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How much carbon can be stored by increasing your soil microbes?

microBIOMETER® reports the microbial biomass as ug of microbial carbon/gram of soil. The chart pictured here shows how much carbon can be stored in an acre just by increasing microbial biomass alone. (Chemically fertilized farmland averages about 100 ug/microbial C/g of soil.) Microbial biomass is the best single estimate of

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Simple ways to increase the microbial biomass in your soil

Healthy soil is brimming with beneficial microbes, and those microbes are one of the important keys to ensuring the health of your plants. Along with breaking down key nutrients for your plants, they’ll aerate the soil so nutrients are evenly distributed, and fend off parasitic microbes so your garden can

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Soil Health Improvement Tracking

Microbial biomass (MB) is the best single indicator of soil health (Doran, 2000). Microbes feed and protect plants, build soil structure which prevents erosion, increase water holding capacity, and build soil organic matter (SOM). MB is low in any situation that is harmful to plant growth (and vice versa) and

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