oxford keynote 2014

8/16/2019 Oxford Keynote 2014

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Life in the Soil

Elaine Ingham, B.A., M.S., Ph.D.

President, Soil Foodweb Inc.

[email protected]


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Soil Microbiologist

St. laf !ollege, Do"ble Ma#or in Biolog$ and !hemistr$Master%s, &e'as A(M, Marine Microbiolog$

Ph.D., !olorado State )ni*ersit$, Soil Microbiolog$

+esearch Fellow, )ni*ersit$ of eorgiaAssistant, Associate Professor, regon State )ni*ersit$-/01 2 3445

+odale Instit"te, !hief Scientist 34 6 347

President, Soil Foodweb Inc., //1 2 8resent9ew :or;, A"stralia, 9ew


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.llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll


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A >ealth$ Food =eb =ill?• S"88ress Disease -com8etition, inhibition,

cons"m8tion no more 8esticides5

• +etain 9"trients -sto8 r"n6off, leaching5

• 9"trients A*ailable at rates 8lants re"ire-eliminate fertiliCer5 leading to fla*or and

n"trition for animals and h"mans

• Decom8ose &o'ins• B"ild Soil Str"ct"re 2-red"ce water "se,

increase water holding ca8acit$, increase

rooting de8th5


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Element Soils (mg/kg)Median Range

In the Earth’scrust (mean)

In Sediments(mean)

O 490,000 - 474,000 486,000

Si 330,000 250,000-410,000 277,000 245,000

Al 71,000 10,000-300,000 82,000 72,000

Fe 40,000 2,000-550,000 41,000 41,000

C (total) 20,000 7,000-500,000 480 29,400Ca 15,000 700-500,000 41,000 66,000

Mg 5,000 400-9,000 23,000 14,000

K 14,000 80-37,000 21,000 20,000

a 5,000 150-25,000 23,000 5,700

Mn 1,000 20-10,000 950 770!n 90 1-900 75 95

Mo 1.2 0.1-40 1.5 2

i 50 2-750 80 52

Cu 30 2-250 50 33

2,000 200-5,000 25 470

" 800 35-5,300 1,000 670

-

Minerals in soil -S8ar;s 34475


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Total –

everything

Exchangeable -

easily pulled off

surfaces; easy tomake soluble

Soluble –

dissolved in soil

solution;

potentially

available to plants

9"trient Pools in Soil

Without organisms to

retain the solublenutrients that a plant

does not take up, or to

change plant-not-

available forms in plant-

available forms, no nesoluble nutrients ill

occur! "lants ill

suffer!

What biomass of each

organism is needed so

the plant gets the

nutrients it needs#

Bacteria, F"ngi,

ProtoCoa,

9ematodesMicroarthro8ods


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Soil !hemistr$? 9"trient Pools

• &otal 9"trients – not normally reported – $rind, complete digestion and combustion

• E'changeable 9"trients %&elick ', (mmonium

(cetate )*+ – Strong extracting agents, but not ( nutrients

• Sol"ble 9"trients

– Extracts soil solution or ater soluble nutrients

– (vailable nutrients – made available ho#

• Plant &iss"e &ests

– Total chemical com onents!! .alanced#


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# $ %

I & R O ' E

" ( O S " ( O R ) S

" O & A S S I ) M

S ) * F ) R

C A * C I ) M

M A ' E S I ) M

I R O

M A ' A E S E

+ O R O

C O " " E R a n d ! I K

M O * , + - E I ) M

S t r o n g l .A c i d

S t r o n g l .A l k a l i n e

# $ / / $ % / $ / 0 $ % 0 $ /

1 (

2 $ % 2 $ / 3 $ % 4 $ %3 $ / 4 $ / 5 % $ %

M

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A

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Without biology,

you are stuck ith p/ as the sole

arbiter of hat is

available to plant

roots, as indicated

to the left! .ut add

organisms, and

plant nutrition is nolonger ruled by

chemistry alone!

Availability of Minerals Relative topH


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-0rganisms

build

structure

- *utrients

held

-Water is

retained

and moves

sloly thru

the soil

-no organisms,

no structure

-*utrients move

ith the ater

-Water not held

in soil pores,

moves rapidly

thru soil

-eaching,

erosion and run-

off are problems

1ainfall

2lean Water Water moves clay,

silt and inorganic chemicals

so no 3cleaning4 process

Soil *s Dirt? !lean water

Soil Dirt


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I eat aerobic bacteria and don%t

li;e bad6tasting anaerobicbacteria at all. M$ #ob is to t"rn

n"trients in bacteria into 8lant6

a*ailable forms.

=ho is in the soil

>i I%m Alaim"s

I%m from the town

of egetable +oots


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400X Total

Mag


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Bacteria, f"ngi, h"m"s, aggregates? microsco8e *iew


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Bacteria A few F"ngiBalanced ..More F"ngi F"ngi

Bacteria? 4 Gg 44 Gg H44 144 Gg H44 Gg 44 Gg

F"ngi? 4 Gg 4 Gg 3H4 144 Gg 044 Gg 444 Gg

Soil biological

s"ccession ca"ses

8lant s"ccession


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97.....balanced..9>J

97 and 9>J

ProtoCoa.....B6f..F6f..Predator$..Microarthro8ods

9ematodes

Forms of n"trients?

!ritical to

"nderstand


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BareParent

Material100%bacterial

CyanobacteriaTrue BacteriaProtooa

!ungi"e#ato$esMicroarts!&B ' 0(01

)*ee$s+ , ig "-. , lac/ of oygen !&B ' 0(1

arly 2rasses

Bro#us3 Ber#u$a !&B ' 0(.

Mi$,grasses3 vegetabl

!&B ' 0(5

6ate successionalgrasses3 ro7 crops !&B ' 1&1

8rubs3 vines3Buses !&B ' 9&1 to 5&1

:eci$uousTrees !&B ' 5&1 to 100&1

Conifer3 ol$,gro7t forests !&B ' 100&1 to

1000&1

Soil Foodweb

Str"ct"re

&hro"gh S"ccession,

And Increasing

Prod"cti*it$

=hat does $o"r 8lant need


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+are "arent

Material

5%%7

8acterial

Food9e8

-e:elo1ment

F;+ < %$%5

=>eeds?

F;+ %$5

Earl. Annuals

F;+ < %$@

MidgrassB :egies

F;+ < %$2

"astureB ro9 cro1s

F;+ < 5;5

+ushes

F;+ < ;5 to ;5-eciduous &rees

F;+ < ;5 to 5%%;5

Old gro9th

F;+ < 5%%;5 to

5%%%;5

Dist"rbance P"shes

S$stems KBac;wards,

B"t >ow Far De8ends on Intensit$,

Fre"enc$

FI+E

Flood

Insects

olcano

>"mans !attle


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ans , trees, gardens or crops, the story is the same! Soil biology is

being destroyed by human management! 1oots are not going as deep as

they should, and ater, fertility and disease protection are lost!


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18

• Peter M( *il$3 Boston TreePreservation

"st beca"se we see this all the time, does it mean

this is how 8lants grow


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5osh Webber6 "ortmore $olf 2ourse,

*orth 7evon, 89


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=itho"t

com8action roots

can go dee8>endri;"s Schra*en holding

r$egrass 8lanted "l$ H, 3443

>ar*ested 9o* 1, 3443

Mowed thro"gh the s"mmer

4N Essential Soil,

74N !om8ostOorganicfertiliCer

!om8ost tea once

9o weeds, no disease

www.soild namics.com


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urce: Conservation Research Institute

-ygen; :isease;Microbes;


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8o$ installe$ aroun$ ne7 pon$


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6 weeks after

sod was laidwith composttea below and

on the sod.Roots wereless than ½inch now 6

inches deepinto the soil.

!o erosion no

weeds no


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2ompost Tea Test Trial

Summer :'

by (bron *e (dvisor

Biological %s !on*entional

A88roach to Soil Management


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Bac;gro"nd

• Trial area consists of to plots fenced off from stock and the

pasture harvested every :-' days using a moer

• Trial as carried out on a conventional dairy farm in the .ay of

"lenty, *e nstitute *<

• Trial overseen by &ark &acintosh of (gfirst 2onsultants

• Trial started ) 0ctober :'

Trial finished :? =ebruary :?


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&reatment

•!om8ost &ea Plot – Three applications of compost tea and foods at )@Aha

applied every ? eeks starting in 0ctober :'

– *o fertiliser had been applied to the compost tea trial plot

for the ): months prior or throughout the trial

• !ontrol Plot

– 2onventionally fertilised ith urea at an application rateof B@kgAha every C-D eeks %?@kgAha per year+

– "hosphate Sulphur &agnesium applied at industry

maintenance levels


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&otal Dr$ Matter rown

>s it true that loer yields occur in 0rganic (griculture#

>f you get the life in the soil correct, that is not true!

A !l N i P S d


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A*erage !lo*er N in Past"re Sward

!o clover was sown in these "elds. #here did the

clover come from$ %here all alon& 'ust needed to !(%have the urea used.

> b Mi l L l I d


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>erbage Mineral Le*els Im8ro*ed

Bi l i l S il & + l


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Biological Soil &est +es"lts

Biomass Data !ontrol !om8ost &ea

(ctive .acteria %ugAg+Total .acteria %ugAg+

C?!:'?D

'!?:@B

(ctive =ungi %ugAg+

Total =ungi %ugAg+

!@

))'

)??

::B=ungi to .acteria 1atio !': !DD

=ungi /yphal 7iameter %um+ :!@ '

"rotooa %per gram+

=lagellates (moebae 2iliates

D'F@D'F@??C

@DB'@DB')BCB

&ycorrhial fungi root colonisation

%G+

?

Soil =oodeb test done ? eeks after 'rd application - 7ec :'


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+ lt


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e$ +es"lts

• ))!BDG increase in total dry matter gron over the control

• H'BAha increased milk income from the extra dry matter

gron

• .ig increases in herbage mineral levels, resulting in

reduced animal health costs; recovery from facial ecema• BDG increase in clover content giving the soil access to

more free nitrogen

• /uge reductions in root feeding nematodes, providing a better environment for increased clover groth

• 1educe costs by H:, on a ' acre farm in the first

groing season


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'?

&here is ho8e..

• We can return the soil to health in a shorttime, and for little cost

• >t ill not cost billions, or even millions of

dollars• >t ill not take years

• Within one groing season, you can get the

increased yields, decrease your costs andimprove nutrition in the food you produce

• >= you get the biology right for your plant

• >= you get the W/0E =007 WE. back


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oxford keynote 2014

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