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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>Dear A.D. Karve,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>I am not sure I follow your point? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>As part of my degree we studied cotton production
in the Mississippi River Delta region of the US,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>wheat production in the Mid West US and truck
farming in California US.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>Many of the really old plantations and farms kept
very complete production records. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>Unfortunately they were not very smart
farmers.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>They planted the same crop for decades with out
adding anything to the soil.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>There crop yields dropped miserably each year
until the river would flood.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>After the soil dried out and farming could resume
and the crop yields rose back to previous levels.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>The Wheat farmers in the Mid West and the
truck farmers in California had similar problems but there were no floods
so NPK was </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>added in later years and yields
returned.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>Old dried Samples of the wheat and produce
were found stored that dated back 60 to 100 years.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>When the old samples of produce were analyzed and
compared to modern samples they had marked differences in the </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>amounts of the trace minerals they
contained. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>The old samples had higher levels of almost all
trace minerals than there modern counterparts.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>Some of the trace minerals were totally absent in
the new samples of wheat and vegetables.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>Soil samples of the areas where the food samples
were taken showed the minerals were depleted from the soil in the root
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>zone of the crops. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>In some deeper samples the concentrations of the
trace minerals improved but they were unreachable by the
plants.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>Is your point that the minerals necessary to grow
the plants are replenished through natural chemical and biological
actions</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>faster than the plants remove them?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>I have a theory that the food we now eat is
missing many of the nutrients that were in food eaten by our
progenitors.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>As a result of the missing nutrients we are now
less healthy and prone to exhibit a number of health problems.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>If the soil where your "organic manure" is
obtained has been depleted of the trace minerals it may aide plant growth
but</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>not the plants nutritional value.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>The areas we applied AD byproducts showed
improvement to the soil trace minerals in the plants over time.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>I did not have the time money or patients to
determine why the improvement took place only that it does
happened.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>It may be the result of a new bio-chemical
processes beginning in the soil introduced from the AD or from AD
byproducts</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>themselves.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel>Brent</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Corbel></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=adkarve@gmail.com href="mailto:adkarve@gmail.com">Anand Karve</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=digestion@lists.bioenergylists.org
href="mailto:digestion@lists.bioenergylists.org">For Discussion of Anaerobic
Digestion</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, June 29, 2011 8:13
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Digestion] Digestate as
fertilizer.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Dear List,</DIV>
<DIV> The fact that the soil micro-organisms contribute to soil fertility
is accepted by all agricultural scientists. Logic tells us that high
calorie, non-composted organic matter would serve the microbes best as
nutrition. From this point of view, we conducted experiments and found
that plain sugar or pulped green leaves were excellent as soil
amendments. The rates of application were 25 kg dry matter per
ha. Capillary water in the soil always has soil minerals dissolved in it.
When one applies a carbon source to the soil, the microbes absorb the
necessary soil minerals from the capillary water. There is no need to add
minerals through the organic matter. That is why even plain sugar
causes soil microbes to increase their numbers. The concentration of
minerals in the capillary water is at a dynamic equilibrium. If a mineral
molecule is removed from the capillary water by a microbe, it is replaced
by a molecule going into solution from the un-dissolved pool of minerals in
the soil. We have about 30 km of earth's crust under our feet. New soil
is being formed every day. Only 5% of the dry weight of plants is constituted
by minerals. Therefore there is an unlimited supply of minerals in the soil.
Don't think that it would ever get exhausted by agriculture. And when you
apply an organic manure to the soil, don't calculate the NPK in it but count
the nutritional calories in it. </DIV>
<DIV>Yours</DIV>
<DIV>A.D.Karve </DIV>
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