<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffcc" text="#000000">
Hi Bjorn,<br>
<br>
Mycorrhiza are just one of a very large number of groups of
beneficial soil fungi. They are one of the most studied and are
very important because of their direct symbiotic relationship with
plant roots. As others mentioned, however, these fungi are just a
part of the entire system. We have seen repeated cases where
mycorrhizal root colonization increases as the general soil system
is stimulated with compost teas and a variety of microbial food
sources. I would not think that sugar would directly stimulate
mycorrhiza a whole lot since sugar is likely to be taken up by the
bacterial very quickly. The increase in bacterial activity will
trigger a chain reaction through the foodweb that will probably
effect the mycorrhiza eventually. Many of the soil organisms
release minerals indirectly to the plants so it is easy to see where
sugar can have a positive affect on mineralization. <br>
<br>
It is important not to over apply sugar, molasses, or any other
soluble carbon source especially if the crop is in an active growth
stage. If there is too large a bloom of biological activity at one
time the nutrients for the plants will be tied up (biology will take
their needs first and plants are second) until the soil ecosystem
again comes into balance. This can cause a crop set back due to
lack of available nutrients during critical growth periods.<br>
<br>
One of the best times to apply sugar is along with a high fertility
input like manure or compost or even digester effluent. If applied
correctly, the sugar will help to sequester the extra nutrients for
biological release at a later time while leaving some nutrients to
promote immediate plant growth.<br>
<br>
Best wishes,<br>
Tim<br>
<br>
On 11/16/2010 2:05 PM, Björn Dahlroth wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:8FF7223A43ED4334A35E7FFBD8445860@BJ00120051220"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Context-Type" content="text/html;
charset=iso-8859-1">
<div>
<p> <span lang="EN-GB">Hi </span> </p>
<p> <span lang="EN-GB">This is a very interesting
discussion that has been up before. One of the most
important kind organisms in
the soil for the uptake of minerals by plants is mycorrhiza
fungi. Most plants (there
are exceptions like brassica) depend on that they provide
sugar to the fungi and
the fungi provide minerals to the plants. The fungi extract
minerals from other
matter even including grains of sand and stone using organic
acids. So the question
is if the addition of sugar will also boost the mycorrhiza
activity and in this
way more minerals will become available for uptake by
plants. </span> </p>
<p> <span lang="EN-GB">Bjorn Dahlroth </span> </p>
<div>
<div> <span> </span> </div>
<p><b> <span>Från:</span> </b> <span>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:digestion-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org">digestion-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>
[<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:digestion-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org">mailto:digestion-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>] <b><span>För
</span></b>Anand Karve<br>
<b><span>Skickat:</span></b> den 16 november 2010
01:52<br>
<b><span>Till:</span></b> For Discussion of Anaerobic
Digestion<br>
<b><span>Ämne:</span></b> Re: [Digestion] vermiculture
of digested solids</span> </p>
</div>
<p> <span> </span> </p>
<div>
<p> <span>Dear Theo, </span> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p> <span> It is an accepted principle in agriculture that
there is direct
and positive correlation between the population densiy of
micro-organisms in the soil and soil fertility. One
applies organic
matter to the soil because one wants to increase the
number of microbes
per unit of soil. This is best done by applying a small
quantity of
non-composted, high calorie organic material to the soil
and not by
applying predigested and composted organic material to an
agricultural
field. You can test this just by applying a couple of
grams of sugar to a
square meter of soil and you would notice, that with such
a small quantity
of an organic carbon source, the microbial population in
the
soil increases about 500 times, within 24 hours of
application.
Thus, when a suitable organic carbon source is available
to the microbes in the
soil, the microbes multiply their numbers, taking up the
necessary minerals
directly from the soil minerals. Plants cannot take up the
soil minerals
because the soil minerals have a very low solubility. But
the microbes can
absorb them even from solutions having minerals in PPM or
PPB
concentration. When the organic carbon source has been
exhausted, the
microbes die due to starvation, releasing the minerals
sequestered in their
body. These minerals, now in the form of enzymes,
co-enzymes, proteins etc. are
highly water soluble, and they become available to the
plants. Literally
thousands of farmers in the region of India where I live,
have started to use
this technique. They apply either 25 kg sugar or 125 kg
green leaves per hectare to their
field, once every two or three months, and get good
yields. It amounts to
soil mining, but just one meter thick layer of soil
contains enough minerals to
support agriculture for 25,000 years. And new soil is
continuously
being formed due to geological processes. So, don't worry
that the
minerals in the soil would ever get exhausted. </span> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p> <span>Yours </span> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p> <span>A.D.Karve </span> </p>
</div>
<div>
<p> <span>On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 8:23 PM, <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:bennett@frognet.net">bennett@frognet.net</a>>
wrote: </span> </p>
<p> <span>Not to answer this, but
to expand a bit.....<br>
Is there documentation backed by laboratory research that
tells the<br>
"fertilizer values" of the digested solid wastes resulting
from
methane<br>
production? Would the vermiculture add to those nutrient
values?<br>
Thanks.<br>
><br>
> Referring to the question about vermiculture. Why
should you want to<br>
> use vermiculture when you have already digested solid
waste that could<br>
> be applied to the fields directly? With raw manure, I
could see the<br>
> advantage, as you would get a somewhat dry,
concentrated and easy to<br>
> apply organic fertilizer, without the acidifying
effect of manure. Is it<br>
> the reduction in volume that is an advantage? Or are
people used to<br>
> using vermiculture organic fertilizer and do not know
the usage of<br>
> digested solid waste? Maybe somebody has some
thoughts about this. Do<br>
> you apply liquid waste to the composting heaps (the
liquids which<br>
> remains when separating digistate into solids and
liquids?) to keep it<br>
> moist?<br>
><br>
> Thanks<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Theo Bijman<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> Matt and listers, Hello,<br>
><br>
> There are two projects in South India doing
vermiculture of digestate:<br>
> SKG Sangha and VK-Nardep that have been highlighted
on the list, as they<br>
> both won Ashden Awards. There are videos available
for both projects,<br>
> although the one for VK-Nardep is a sequence of still
photographs taken<br>
> at the time of the judge's visit.<br>
><br>
> The Ashden Award links are: <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/skgsangha">www.ashdenawards.org/winners/skgsangha</a><br>
> <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/skgsangha">http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/skgsangha</a>>
and<br>
> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/vknardep">www.ashdenawards.org/winners/vknardep</a><br>
> <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/vknardep">http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/vknardep</a>>
.
A direct link to SKG<br>
> Sangha is: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.skgsangha.org/">www.skgsangha.org</a>
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.skgsangha.org/">http://www.skgsangha.org</a>>
and
to<br>
> VK-Nardep is: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://vknardep.org/">vknardep.org</a>
<<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://vknardep.org/">http://vknardep.org</a>>
.<br>
><br>
> Regards,<br>
><br>
> David Fulford<br>
><br>
> On 11/11/2010 01:33, Matt Lorig wrote:<br>
><br>
> There was a project mentioned on the list (maybe a
year or two ago)<br>
> about a vermiculture project using the digestate from
a biogas plant.
I<br>
> think it was in India. I think they were using
sawdust to soak up
the<br>
> water and composting it for a period of time and then
introducing the<br>
> worms. I can't find the link now. Does anyone
remember what
I'm<br>
> talking about? Or does anyone have any info about
vermiculture
combined<br>
> with biogas?<br>
><br>
> Matt Lorig<br>
> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:mattlorig@yahoo.com">mattlorig@yahoo.com</a>
<mailto:<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:mattlorig@yahoo.com">mattlorig@yahoo.com</a>><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
> Digestion mailing list<br>
><br>
> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br>
> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:Digestion@bioenergylists.org">Digestion@bioenergylists.org</a><br>
><br>
> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the
web page<br>
> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/digestion_lists.bioenergylists.org">http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/digestion_lists.bioenergylists.org</a><br>
><br>
> for more information about digestion, see<br>
> Beginner's Guide to Biogas<br>
> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/">http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/</a><br>
> and the Biogas Wiki <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://biogas.wikispaces.com/">http://biogas.wikispaces.com/</a><br>
><br>
><br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
May your troubles be less, your blessings more,<br>
and may nothing but happiness, come through your door.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Digestion mailing list<br>
<br>
to Send a Message to the list, use the email address<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:Digestion@bioenergylists.org">Digestion@bioenergylists.org</a><br>
<br>
to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web
page<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/digestion_lists.bioenergylists.org">http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/digestion_lists.bioenergylists.org</a><br>
<br>
for more information about digestion, see<br>
Beginner's Guide to Biogas<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/">http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/</a><br>
and the Biogas Wiki <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://biogas.wikispaces.com/">http://biogas.wikispaces.com/</a>
</span> </p>
</div>
<p> <span><br>
<br>
<br>
-- <br>
***<br>
Dr. A.D. Karve<br>
President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)<br>
<br>
*Please change my email address in your records to: <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:adkarve@gmail.com">adkarve@gmail.com</a>
*<br>
<br>
<br>
</span> </p>
</div>
<pre wrap="">
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
_______________________________________________
Digestion mailing list
to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Digestion@bioenergylists.org">Digestion@bioenergylists.org</a>
to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/digestion_lists.bioenergylists.org">http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/digestion_lists.bioenergylists.org</a>
for more information about digestion, see
Beginner's Guide to Biogas
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/">http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/</a>
and the Biogas Wiki <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://biogas.wikispaces.com/">http://biogas.wikispaces.com/</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>