Think of a Natural System, Such As a Forest Or Meadow: It Thrives Year After Year by Recycling

SOIL

Think of a natural system, such as a forest or meadow: it thrives year after year by recycling available nutrients. Leaves fall off and break down; grasses and flowers grow bloom and fade; animals die and decompose –all life adds organic matter to the soil.

The cycle of growth and decay is often depicted as a wheel, where birth, growth and maturity take place above ground in the light, and the process of decay below the surface in the darkness, giving birth to life anew. If growth is faster than decay the wheel is broken, destroying nature’s balance. What lives eventually dies, and it’s substance returns to the soil to be recycled into new life. This is nature’s law of return. This is the cycle you are trying to create in your farm.

“Growth has been speeded up, but nothing has been done to accelerate decay. Farming has become unbalanced. The gap between the two halves of the Wheel of Life has been left unbriged, or it has been filled by a substitute in the shape of artificial manures (chemicals). The soils of the world are either being worn out and left in ruins, or are being slowly poisoned. The restoration and maintenance of soil has become a universal problem”---Sir Albert Howard, Farming and Gardening for Health or Disease. Faber and Faber London.

It is proved beyond doubt that healthy soil means healthy plants. When you build and maintain fertile rich soil in organic matter, you lay the groundwork for thriving plants/crops that can develop quickly, resist pests and diseases, and yield a bountiful crop.

Can synthetic chemical fertilizers provide a short cut to healthy soil and healthy plants? After all plant’s needs are fairly basic: air, water, light, warmth and balance of nutrients and minerals. So why not put some seeds in the ground, and apply the appropriate chemicals and reap the harvest?

That’s one possible approach to chemical fertilizers; such as NPK formulations sold in garden supply stores. These fertilizers do provide most of the nutrients plants need in an easy to use form. But these chemicals have a number of shortcomings.

1.Plants can absorb only a limited amount of nutrients at a time, much of these water-soluble products may be wasted and end up as run off during rain or watering.

2.Many chemical fertilizers provide a quick burst of nutrients but may leave the plants to draw on over the course of the growing season.

3.As petroleum products are needed to produce the fertilizers they use up valuable non-renewable source of energy.

Chemical fertilizers don’t build or maintain healthy soil, much like taking a vitamin pill

rather than eating your fruits and vegetables, they provide the chemicals, but none of the added benefits that other soil inputs offer.

If you watch carefully to see what nature does as she goes about her daily round of chores, it’s quite easy to start believing that the whole thing is a complicated, secretive conspiracy by soil micro-organisms to beget more soil micro-organisms. Natures first concern is always to build more topsoil, and protect it. Its easy to see why: no topsoil, not much nature either. The Earth’s green carpet of living things is really just the Soil creature’s skin.

A single spade full of rich garden soil contains more species of organisms than can be found above the ground in the entire Amazon rain forest. Although the soil surface appears solid, air moves freely in and out of it. The air in upper 8 inches of a well-drained soil is completely renewed about every hour. —Soil Factoids, US NationalSoilSurveyCenter.

We can therefore say that our soil is a living soil, involving the interactions of thousands of different species of microorganisms (2 million Individuals per gram) in a highly complex ecosystem.

This living soil makes its presence felt everywhere! On both sides of tarred city roads, after first rains on vast wastelands, wild weeds growing on our farms. According to seasons they grow, get trampled over, and decompose and gradually a new type of soil mix of well-composted material grows above the original layer of soil.

Well if we observe carefully and listen we realize that there is no conspiracy at all but a beautiful symbiotic relationship where the tiniest microbe has an important role to play in this Cycle of Life. It’s a beautiful story waiting to be heard. So watch out pay your respects, and give tender loving care to the almighty microbe!

Prof. Dabholkar observed keenly, listened and heard the stories that nature had to tell him. He simplified the complexities of nature so that they can be explained to the common man, the farmer in rural areas.

He firmly believed that by linking natural resources development with that of human resource even the last person in the country could be made into an entrepreneur.

These entrepreneurs could enrich natural resources quantitatively and qualitatively with help of resources found within everybody’s environment like Soil, Sunlight Water and little enlightenment!

Through results of his experiments he has enlightened the masses and shown that assured calculated results could be obtained if basic principles of Preparing Nutrient rich nursery soil, harvesting maximum sunlight and monitoring proper root growth are followed. He termed this science Natueco Science. Let us study in detail how we can prepare our own soil by using the resources available in our environment.

COMPONENTS OF NURSERY SOIL

A good soil can be described as one that is live, productive and full of nutrition. We call this Fertile Nursery Soil. The term Nursery Soil is used for soils that contain well composted organic parts and mineral parts in equal volume.

The well-composted organic part is generally of the nature of humus or ligno protein. Thus while fertility part relates to available mineral nutrient level in the soil, the adjective nursery relates to the factor which gives structure and form to the soil.

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COMPONENTS CONTRIBUTING TO PRODUCTIVITY

The fibrous Lignin and cellulose are the structural part of plants. The lignin component is transformed by bacteria into humus.
The factors that promote humus formation by bacteria are: a source of lignin, cellulose, a nitrogen source, water, warmth and oxygen.
The cellulose is the energy source for those bacteria.
The nitrogen is required for the formation of the bacterial protein.
If this nitrogen is already in the form of protein, such as animal manure, or a leguminous green manure, then the humifying bacteria can use it directly.
Moisture levels should be those sufficient to allow plant growth.
The optimum temperature range is between 15 and 25°C. Below 10°C there is very little bacterial activity. Above about 30°C humus tends to oxidise at a greater rate than it is produced.
Humifying bacteria requires oxygen. In the absence of oxygen, anaerobic bacteria and fungi decompose organic matter and this is the fermentation process that results in production of plant inhibiting chemicals, such as alcohols.
Micro flora thrive and after their death the dead bodies of these micro flora that remain there contribute towards forming ligno proteins. Humus and lingo protein contribute towards stability and structure of soil.
Another factor that affects humus formation is the balance of the major fertility elements calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium. When the soil is balanced, not only is humification enhanced, but the pH of the soil tends to stabilise between 6.5- 7.5
This happens to be neutral pH that optimises the availability of all the essential plant nutrients in the soil. It is also the range that is preferred by earthworms.

2.COMPONENTS CONTRIBUTING TO FERTILITY OF SOIL

Second component of nursery soil is the fertility level. To understand the fertility /nutrient factor of soil it is important to understand the nutrient content of plant, which is fulfilled through the environment.

Most plant parts are made of carbohydrates.

These carbohydrates are made up of carbon and water. Carbon comes from the carbon dioxide from air and water comes from soil.

If we consider the dry weight of any plant it has very little nutrients, which have been taken from the soil.
If we burn any plant material completely the white ash that remains contains various nutrients taken from the soil (except nitrogen)
Generally this white ash is 1%-5% of dry weight.
Moreover half of this weight is of silica and calcium.
So to grow healthy vigorous plants a small portion of these active nutrients are essential. And these come from the activated mineral parts of the soil.
There are about 16 essential micronutrients and 88 macronutrients elements the plant needs of which some are taken from air and water and the rest from the soil by ion exchange.
During physical and chemical weathering processes in which rocks, minerals, and organic matter decompose to form soil, some extremely small particles are formed.
Colloidal-sized particles are so minuscule that they do not settle out when in suspension. These particles generally possess a negative charge, which allows them to attract positively charged ions known as cations.
Much like a magnet, in which opposite poles attract one another, soil colloids attract and retain many plant nutrients in an exchangeable form.
This ability, known as cation exchange capacity, enables a soil to attract and retain positively charged nutrients (cations) such as potassium (K+), ammonium (NH4+), hydrogen (H+), calcium (Ca++), and magnesium (Mg++).
Also, because similar charges repel one another, some of the soluble negatively charged ions (anions), such as nitrate (NO3-) and sulfate (SO4=), are not bonded to soil colloids and are more easily leached than their positively charged counterparts.
Organic colloids contribute a relatively large number of negative charges per unit weight compared with the various types of clay colloids.
The magnitude of the soil's electrical charge contributed by colloids is an important component of a soil's ability to retain cationic nutrients in a form available to plants.

Cation Exchange Capacity

The ability of a soil to retain cations (positively charged ions) in a form that is available to plants is known as cation exchange capacity (CEC).
A soil's CEC depends on the amount and kind(s) of colloid(s) present. Although type of clay is important, in general, the more clay or organic matter present, the higher the CEC.
The CEC of a soil might be compared to the size of a fuel tank on a gasoline engine. The larger the fuel tank, the longer the engine can operate and the more work it can do before a refill is necessary.
For soils, the larger the CEC, the more nutrients the soil can supply. Although CEC is only one component of soil fertility, all other factors being equal, the higher the CEC, the higher the potential yield of that soil.
Nutrient availability is influenced strongly by soil pH. This is especially true for phosphorus, which is most available between pH 6.0 and 7.5.
Elements such as iron, aluminum, and manganese are especially soluble in acid soils. Above pH 7.0, calcium, magnesium, and sodium are increasingly soluble.
Phosphorus is particularly reactive with aluminum, iron, and calcium.
Thus in acid soils, insoluble phosphorus compounds are formed with iron, aluminum, and manganese.
At pH levels above 7.0, the reactivity of iron, aluminum, and manganese is reduced, but insoluble phosphorus compounds containing calcium and magnesium can become a problem.
To maximize phosphorus solubility and hence availability to plants, it is best to maintain soil pH within the range of 6.0 to 7.5.
Over liming can result in reduced phosphorus availability just as quickly as underliming.
In general, the availability of nitrogen, potassium, calcium, and magnesium decreases rapidly below pH 6.0 and above pH 8.0.
If managed properly, soil pH is a powerful regulator of nutrient.
Manganese, zinc, and iron are most available when soil pH is in the acid range.
As the pH of an acid soil approaches 7.0, manganese, zinc, and iron availability decreases and deficiencies can become a problem, especially on those soils that do not contain appreciable amounts of these elements.
These micronutrients frequently must be supplemented when soil levels are low, when over liming has occurred, or when soil tests indicate a deficiency.

There is a delicate balance between soil pH and nutrient availability. It is important that soils be tested regularly and that the pH be maintained in the recommended range to achieve maximum efficiency of soil.

3. COMPONENTS CONTRIBUTING TO MAKING THE SOIL LIVING SOIL

Third component of soil is that it should be living soil. In this soil various types of micro flora get established.

SOIL MICRO FLORA

All organisms from the tiny bacteria to the large earthworms and insects interact with one another in a multitude of ways in a whole soil eco system. Total weight of soil organisms per acre of healthy topsoil is about 4 tons.

Biological nitrogen fixation plays an important role in the economy of crop production. The microbes in this class of micro flora are, besides bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes and algae. Of these, bacteria are the most abundant in soil; next in order are actinomyeetes, followed by fungi.

One of the major benefits bacteria provide for plants is in helping them take up nutrients.
Others break down soil minerals and release potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium and iron.
Still other species make and release natural plant growth hormones, which stimulate root.
Few species of bacteria fix nitrogen in roots of legumes while others fix nitrogen independently of plant association.

BACTERIA

Bacteria are most abundant around the roots of plants. Two types of bacteria provide nutrients to plants: heterotrophic bacteria and autotrophic bacteria.
Heterotrophic bacteria break down organic matter in the soil and convert it into nutrients the plant needs for photosynthesis.
Autotrophic bacteria generate their own organic matter from carbon dioxide in addition to breaking down other organic materials.
Bacteria are essential elements in the grand biogeochemical cycles of life. By decomposing organic material so that is available for plant nourishment they recycle natural elements that would be bound up in the soil.
They also control the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; ninety percent of carbon dioxide produced on Earth from natural processes comes from the biological activity of bacteria and fungi.

SOIL ACTINOMYCETES

The second key soil species are the actinomycetes, which resemble both bacteria and fungi.

Actinomycetes are more abundant in dry soil than in wet soils and more in grassland and pasture soils than in the cultivated soils.
Actinomycetes give soil its earthy smell; it comes from a compound, geosmin, which is released as actinomycetes break down organic matter.
Though they play an important role in soil quality, actinomycetes are more commonly known as the source of antibiotics such as actinomycin, tetracycline, and neomycin and by producing these they maintain balance in nature.
They are responsible for the decomposition of the more resistant organic matter of soil (chitin). Adding matter containing chitin to the soil increases its resistance to diseases.

Some organic matters containing chitin are: dead bodies of bees. Bird’s feathers, hair, crab shells, nails, horns.

Actinomycetes are also nitrogen fixers; they convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that can be used by plants.
Bacteria and fungi thrive in soil having high amounts of Nitrogen. Actinomycetes are weaker than bacteria and fungi; therefore as long as bacteria and fungi are working and thriving they are dormant. They thrive only after bacteria and fungi become inactive.

ALGAE

Algae are common in ponds and streams, but they are also common in soils.
They are pioneer species and contribute to building soil, making it possible for plant species to grow.
Algae photosynthesize energy from sunlight and contribute vast amounts of organic matter to the soil. Many certain strains of blue-green algae fix nitrogen from air.
The organic matter that algae add to the soil improves soil quality because it is sticky and contributes to making soil porous.

FUNGI

Fungi are, with bacteria, are the most important recyclers of nutrients.
Fungi also protect plants by consuming nematodes and insects that prey on plants.
Scientists recently identified a fungus that covered 1,500 acres and was estimated to between 1,000 and 10,000 years old. Fungi can be observed in the field; particularly after damp and rainy weather when mushrooms, which are fungal spores.
Fungi and algae pair together to form lichens.
The algae partner produces nutrients through photosynthesis and the fungus partner absorbs inorganic nutrients from the soil, which the algae needs for growth.
Lichens can therefore colonize the harshest environments, even those with scarce nutrients, water, and cold temperatures.
Because lichens can absorb even trace inorganic and organic materials, they serve as an indicator of environmental quality, because they take up trace toxic materials in the environment.

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