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Re: [compost_tea] Re: Filtering ACT



TaChung and David both asked about bulk densities of organisms.  I'm just back from the outback in Oz, and I include some of the feedback from the meeting

We just held our second Annual Kachana Landscape Management Workshop, 27th, 28th, and 29th August 2003 with keynote-speaker Dr. Elaine Ingham. The theme was: “Building Soil”: the ecological foundation for productive landscapes

As soon as the dust settles we will post our report on our web site; meanwhile may I bring up two items that I feel important for the international Holistic Management movement:

1.   We were asked to challenge some prevailing theories on “root-pruning”: recent studies in plant physiology indicate that root-pruning may have more to do with local compaction than a severe pruning above ground…   How much of our rangeland wisdom comes from the study of dysfunctional or functionally impaired situations?   (As I now understand it: lacking soil-biology/structure can lead to the collapsing ground and localised compaction causing anaerobic conditions and the forming of alcohol in the root-zone… this rather than a severe above ground pruning will cause “root pruning”….. We viewed one example in a rocky area where the roots of severely grazed grass went down 1.5 metres to water… The implications at least for us on Kachana are far reaching…)

2.   Is Compost Tea a new tool for the “tool box”?  (The international standard is clearly defined by Soilfoodweb Inc.) Category living organisms: Micro-organisms managed/introduced with the use of Compost Tea.  (As I understand it at this stage: We can compliment (if not super-charge) the effectiveness of our large animals by managing the “micro-herds” in our soils.   The reverse could/should also apply… we will be looking into this.)

Chris H. 
Kachana Pastoral Company:
Promoting environmental literacy and functional science.            

So, moving on, now that you know why I haven't been doing much talking this last couple of weeks -



On average, one bacterium of 1 micrometer width, 2 um diameter, weighs 0.2 picograms.  This is based on work by Eldor Paul, Paul Voroney, M. Alexander, and others.  Active bacteria have a greater density, about 0.41 ug per cubic centimeter, based on work by a researcher at Sapelo Island in Gerogia.  Sorry, can't remember his name, been too many years.

Fungi have a greater variability in density than bacteria, and so their length and width must be measured, and the conversion to biomass from biovolume based accordingly.  Empty hyphae may be quite light, around 0.20 ug per cubic centimeter, while active fungi may weight 0.44 ug per cubic centimeter.  Series of papers on this way back in the 1980's, and if I remember correctly, Van Veen published a paper on this. 

Protozoa values are in Darbyshire's book, and nematode values are published in Ingham et al, 1985.  See the sfi website for the list of pubs in my CV.  The density of different nematodes vary depending on the functional group of nematode. 

OK?  Hope this all helps?

Elaine
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
www.soilfoodweb.com
SFI Oregon, USA
SFI Australia
SFI New York
SFI Europe
SFI New Zealand

"Hope is not a feeling. It is not the belief that things will turn out well, but the conviction that what we are doing makes sense, no matter how things turn out."   --  Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic






































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