In the spring and early summer of 2020, the Nutrient Management Spear Program at Cornell University conducted a soil survey of yield-stability based management zones on a New York dairy farm.
Ben Lehman, research assistant in the Nutrient Management Spear Program at Cornell University, completed a study on the Within- Field Variability of Soil Characteristics and Corn Yield Stability on a New York Dairy Farm.
Ben utilized microBIOMETER® in his research to determine the microbial biomass of the soil samples.
This study was presented at the 2020 American Society of Agronomy Annual Meeting.
Source: Cornell Center for Materials Research
Sometimes the wisdom we need to build a great future is buried in the past. Regenerative agriculture isn’t an entirely new concept, it’s actually more of a return to the wisdom of farmers from days gone by. What’s old is new again and its popularity is spreading around the globe like a prairie fire.
While regenerative agriculture gives a well-earned nod to the past, its relationship with science and technology allows it to effectively transform the way we currently grow food. microBIOMETER®, with their customers all around the world, are leading the way with technology that shows farmers when their soil health practices are working and when they are not.
“I believe biological agriculture is the way to regenerate and create more resilient soil that will supply nutrients and higher immunity to the plants. This is why microBIOMETER® has become an invaluable asset to my soil management efforts.” ~ Marcelo Chiappetta of Chiapeta Empresa Agricola in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Creating healthy soil may take the wisdom of generations of farmers, but microBIOMETER® supplies the knowledge farmers need to best manage potential outcomes.
In learning how to develop healthy soil for healthy plants and people, Frans Plugge of New Zealand discovered the importance of increasing the fungi population in his garden and this led him to microBIOMETER®.
“The microBIOMETER® soil test makes measuring the fungi to bacteria ratio so easy,” Frans said.
To promote the benefits of soil regeneration, Frans has started the community street garden using the principles of regenerative agriculture; minimizing artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Frans plans to take regular measurements of the fungi to bacteria ratio using microBIOMETER® to monitor his progress as well as create a great discussion point with members of the garden community, therefore, contributing to a healthy plant community.
Some of the microBIOMETER® results Frans shared with us for his home garden and compost:
The first photo pictured here is a bare clay strip that Frans forked loose but did not turn. He added a thin layer of garden compost along with a layer of soil sowing in ten different species of autumn crops; legumes, grasses, and cereals. Then he planted brassicas into the garden (second photo).
Over the years, Frans typically added compost and dug in green crop in the main vegetable garden, but had not had great success in yield. This autumn in the area the microBIOMETER® sample was taken from, he planted an autumn cover crop of 7-8 different species and a selection of brassicas amongst them. The idea is when the cover crop begins to go to seed, they cut at root level and drop as mulch (third photo). Frans is hoping they can stop digging in an effort to build up healthy soil organisms.
Frans’ conclusions related to New Zealand’s potential to reduce its carbon footprint:
About Frans:
Source: How Plants ‘Farm’ Soil Microbes and Endophytes in Roots
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 the University of New Jersey, by which root tips “ingest” bacteria and absorb nitrogen and phosphorus and other nutrients from them.
The microbes pictured here in roots are called endophytes because they can live inside plants. The bacteria are attracted to the root tip by root exudates. They then enter the root where the cell walls are dissolved using superoxide, allowing nutrients to leak out to the plant. But the plant does not kill the microbes instead the microbes stimulate the formation of root hairs, which are escape routes for the microbes.
After ejection from root hair tips, bacterial cell walls re-form. The bacteria fatten up and are soon ready to acquire soil nutrients and become another meal for the plant.
Source: How Plants ‘Farm’ Soil Microbes and Endophytes in Roots
Not only does rhizophagy provide mineral nutrients, it is also the stimulus for formation of root hairs, which are critical to the establishment of a healthy root as can be seen in this photo of a plant root with and without endophytes.
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 soil quality. It is the bodies of dead microbes that build humus/soil organic carbon, returning carbon to the soil and building soil structure which prevents erosion and pollutant run off. (Chemical nitrogen fertilizers have been shown to inhibit microbial biomass.)
The literature reports that lab measurements of soil organic carbon are not sufficiently accurate in monitoring an increase in carbon sequestration in less than 3 years but that a yearly increase in microbial biomass can indicate that the process of carbon accumulation is occurring.
microBIOMETER® has been used to demonstrate increases in soil carbon due to increases in microbial biomass on the Apple campus in Texas and for 3 years by the NYC Arts and Science Carbon Sponge Project.
Katharhy G. is an agroecosystem and ethnoscience researcher who traveled to Ecuador to investigate the relationship between microbial biomass and crop health, as well as to study the local indigenous agriculture practices.
He visited 28 different farms growing 15 different crops. 14 of these farms are practicing conventional farming, while the other 14 farms are practicing indigenous regenerative farming. Most sites are not receiving irrigation. He tested the soil with microBIOMETER® and ranked the crop health as poor (1), average (2), good (3), excellent (4).
As the graph shows, microbial biomass correlated with crop health under all these different conditions. Samples with microbial biomass lower than 225 were all poor (1) and samples above 400 were all excellent.
The take home lesson is that to improve your plant health and yield, increase your microbial biomass by feeding your microbes with organic amendments.
If you have microBIOMETER® research data you’d like to share with us, please contact us. We would love to share it with our readers!
Contact:. ka*******@***il.com
Earthworms recover from Roundup exposure
The effect of various Roundup formulations and microplastics on soil.
Dr. Sharon Pochron and her students at Stonybrook University in New York have been using microBIOMETER® for two years. Dr. Pochron studies the effect of various Roundup formulations and microplastics on soil microbes and soil invertebrates.
Her most recent publication (See Figure 2) shows microbial biomass increasing on day 7 in both the Roundup treated and untreated soils – the 0 line depicts the microbial biomass on day 0. This increase is probably due to the soil microbes responding to rewetting. By day 14 the microbial biomass in the uncontaminated soil is back to baseline, but the Roundup treated soil has dropped well below baseline. By day 21 both soils have returned to baseline. This study shows only total microbial biomass recovery, but there is evidence that Roundup can affect microbial composition.
Prolific Earth Sciences is supporting research at various universities. Feel free to contact us to discuss your project and how we can assist.
Mike Ellis of Mt. Hope Farms
We had the pleasure of speaking to Mike Ellis of Mt. Hope Farms as he shared his experience with microBIOMETER®. We also learned a lot about his family farm in Molalla, Oregon.
“Had a great opportunity to take my new microbe test kit out for a spin. It was quick and easy to get results and gave us a great insight into where we are at today. I’ve only run a few tests but it was easy and an invaluable tool to immediately see exactly where we are at, soil microbe wise.
I plan to be using this quite frequently to evaluate how we are doing with our farm/soil stewardship goals. We plan to do testing before and after applications of a number of commonly used products on our farm so we can evaluate if each one is helping or hurting our microbes. This way if we do have to do anything that will hurt them, we can hopefully follow it with products and practices that will help them heal.” –Mike Ellis
About Mt. Hope Farms
Mt. Hope Farms is a multigenerational family farm specializing in growing unique berries such as aronia and haskap as well as table grapes and in making fruit spreads in very small batches. Mike and his wife, Laura, represent the 3rd generation farming this land. Mike grew up farming with his dad, who he still farms with, and his grandpa, until he passed away at 92 (still farming and never fully retiring). Farming is part of the Ellis DNA and even though their boys are still very young, they want nothing more than to be on a tractor or out working in the vineyard or fields. They are truly a family farm and make all decisions together.
For many years, the family farmed larger commodity crops (such as grass seed, wheat, clover seed, radish seed, etc.). While they still grow some of these, namely grass seed, clover seed, and radish seed, they have been working hard to transition over to crops that can be grown on a smaller amount of acreage (requiring less rental ground), take less large equipment and can more easily be grown according to their biological and organic farming standards, making them more sustainable. They also needed to begin switching to crops that would carry through to the next generation, crops that would prove to be long term investments. Crops like their grapes and berries are long-term crops that will still be producing once their two sons are older and ready to take over operations, if they choose to.
All of their food crops have great flavor, are highly nutritious and nutrient dense and are less common than many already found in the Willamette Valley. To achieve this requires a healthy and highly productive soil. The only way that they believe they can consistently hit their yield and quality goals is to pay close attention to the soil fertility and soil microbial health. Every generation of their family has done their best to leave the land better than they have found it, regardless of whether it was rental ground or owned ground. Prior generations did the best they could with the understanding, knowledge, and tools that they had, and Mike is beyond grateful for all that they did. Now it is their turn and they will do all that they can to continue that tradition, not just for themselves but also for generations to come.
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 grow in peace.
Considering the wealth of benefits, it’s no surprise that it is recommended that you do everything you can to maximize the microbial biomass in your soil. While there’s complicated science behind it, nourishing and increasing the amount of microbes in your soil is simple, and can be accomplished with a few tried and true methods. And thanks to the microBIOMETER® soil test, even amateur gardeners can track their microbial biomass levels.
First, let’s detail how you can take care of those important microbes and enhance their numbers. It’ll involve shedding some old gardening habits, along with taking on some new ones, but we promise the end results will be worth it.
What To Avoid
Before you start taking extra steps to care for and increase your microbial biomass, you should ensure you’re avoiding certain tactics that are known to hinder their growth.
While you might think avoiding pesticides wouldn’t enhance plant health, a close look at the ingredients of most pesticides will show you they do far more harm than good. Amongst a variety of issues, one of the most harmful is the fact they decimate microbial populations in the soil. If you want to ensure pests will stay away in the absence of pesticides, try utilizing companion plants instead.
While pesticides are bad, fungicides are even more of a threat. Some of the most vital microbes in your soil, being fungi, would be directly targeted by these treatments. The harshness of these chemicals would also wreak havoc on the non-fungi microbes, all but eliminating any trace of a microbial biomass. Even if you can’t do everything on this list, ensure you at least abide by this particular rule.
Lastly, while many gardeners and farmers consider tilling a standard gardening process, you’ll want to abstain from it if you’re focusing on your soil’s microbes. That, of course, is due to the level of soil disturbance that occurs during the process. The process leads to lost microbes (especially fungi), and any benefits gained from additions made to the soil end up being cancelled out. By avoiding tilling, you’ll allow the delicate environment in your soil to function undisturbed and, in turn, at full capacity.
What To Do
Now that you’ve cut those bad habits out of your gardening routine, you have room for a few that’ll greatly benefit your soil in the long run.
Nothing gets microbes into the soil like a nice big pile of compost! All that food breaking down in one big pile is basically a feast for all the helpful microbes you want around your plants. Once you add it onto your soil, then turn it to make sure air hits every part of it, you’ll be ensuring the microbes have plenty of energy to break down nutrients. To ensure the best compost possible, make sure you add in natural components like grass clippings, fruits, vegetables, wood chips, and straw. There’s no need to exclude other foods, even processed ones, but a healthy blend of green and brown material is a must.
Following the same logic, compost teas can do wonders for the microbes in your soil. All you have to do is take some compost and put it in a water permeable pouch, add some microbe feeding nutrients (perhaps like molasses), and let it brew (bubbling air into it) until the microbes in the compost have multiplied and the tea is full of microbes. Once done, pour it all around the base of your plants. One round will do your plants good, but repeating this process a few times during your growing process will really make a difference.
This last step is actually three steps and if these conditions aren’t met, virtually nothing else on this list will have a noticeable effect. To start, making sure you have adequate moisture is as simple as regularly watering your plants. You may also want to consider purchasing a moisture meter to assure your levels are ideal. Next, the ideal pH range for soil is between 6.0 and 7.0, so you’ll have to test your soil to see where you’re at. If your soil pH is too low try adding limestone and if your pH is too high you can add aluminum sulfate and sulfur to get things balanced. Lastly, mulching is a great way to help your soil maintain an even temperature.
Incorporating these simple tactics into your crop management is an important first step to building the microbial biomass in your soil. Another critical step is testing and quantifying the results of these inputs since decision making without data is like driving blindfolded. microBIOMETER® is a rapid, on-site soil test for microbial biomass. Microbes respond very quickly to any changes in the soil, therefore, you can set a baseline then retest within a week to see if you are heading in the right direction.
With a small R & D grant awarded from the Dutch government, Jo Ploumen of the Netherlands is using microBIOMETER® to determine fungal to bacterial ratios in vermicompost filled in a Johnson-Su Bioreactor versus residence time. Jo also uses microBIOMETER® to measure microbes and F:B ratio in select soil samples as a member of a garden club. He found the differences by method of gardening; organic vs fertilizer and bare vs covered soil to be striking!
“I like microBIOMETER® as it is a cost-effective tool with a high impact, potentially,” Jo said.
Jo’s impressive resume includes studying Chemical Technology at the Technical University of Eindhoven, employment at multinational AKZO Nobel as an R & D specialist and co-founder of Pulsed Heat BV. In 2019, Jo founded Ploumen E.S. Compost to begin research based on the findings of Dr. David Johnson. Johnson is the developer of the Johnson-Su Bioreactor which delivers a compost with very unique properties.
We are honored to have Jo as a valued customer, data collector and partner on our journey to increase awareness of soil health, regenerative practices and carbon sequestration!
Photo source: Taos News
