[Digestion] vermiculture of digested solids

Tue Nov 16 12:05:00 CST 2010

Hi

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. 

Bjorn Dahlroth

  _____  

Från: digestion-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
[mailto:digestion-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] För Anand Karve
Skickat: den 16 november 2010 01:52
Till: For Discussion of Anaerobic Digestion
Ämne: Re: [Digestion] vermiculture of digested solids

Dear Theo,

 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. 

Yours

A.D.Karve  

On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 8:23 PM, <bennett at frognet.net> wrote:

Not to answer this, but to expand a bit.....
Is there documentation backed by laboratory research that tells the
"fertilizer values" of the digested solid wastes resulting from methane
production?  Would the vermiculture add to those nutrient values?
Thanks.
>
> Referring to the question about vermiculture.  Why should you want to
> use vermiculture when you have already digested solid waste that could
> be applied to the fields directly? With raw manure, I could see the
> advantage, as you would get a somewhat dry, concentrated and easy to
> apply organic fertilizer, without the acidifying effect of manure. Is it
> the reduction in volume that is an advantage?  Or are people used to
> using vermiculture organic fertilizer and do not know the usage of
> digested solid waste? Maybe somebody has some thoughts about this. Do
> you apply liquid waste to the composting heaps  (the liquids which
> remains when separating digistate into solids and liquids?) to keep it
> moist?
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
> Theo Bijman
>
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>
> Matt and listers, Hello,
>
> There are two projects in South India doing vermiculture of digestate:
> SKG Sangha and VK-Nardep that have been highlighted on the list, as they
> both won Ashden Awards. There are videos available for both projects,
> although the one for VK-Nardep is a sequence of still photographs taken
> at the time of the judge's visit.
>
> The Ashden Award links are: www.ashdenawards.org/winners/skgsangha
> <http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/skgsangha>  and
> www.ashdenawards.org/winners/vknardep
> <http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/vknardep> . A direct link to SKG
> Sangha is: www.skgsangha.org <http://www.skgsangha.org/>
<http://www.skgsangha.org <http://www.skgsangha.org/> >  and to
> VK-Nardep is: vknardep.org <http://vknardep.org/>  <http://vknardep.org
<http://vknardep.org/> > .
>
> Regards,
>
> David Fulford
>
> On 11/11/2010 01:33, Matt Lorig wrote:
>
> There was a project mentioned on the list (maybe a year or two ago)
> about a vermiculture project using the digestate from a biogas plant.  I
> think it was in India.  I think they were using sawdust to soak up the
> water and composting it for a period of time and then introducing the
> worms.  I can't find the link now.  Does anyone remember what I'm
> talking about?  Or does anyone have any info about vermiculture combined
> with biogas?
>
> Matt Lorig
> mattlorig at yahoo.com <mailto:mattlorig at yahoo.com>
>
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>

--
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and may nothing but happiness, come through your door.

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-- 
***
Dr. A.D. Karve
President, Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI)

*Please change my email address in your records to: adkarve at gmail.com *

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