[Terrapreta] sugar usage

[Christoph Steiner]

Dear Mr. Karve,

We assessed the influence of charcoal and condensates from smoke
(pyroligneous acid, wood vinegar) on the microbial activity in a highly
weathered Amazonian upland soil via measurements of basal respiration
(BR), substrate induced respiration (SIR), and exponential population
increase after substrate addition. The extraction of pyrogenous acid and
its use as fertilizer or pest control is common in Brazil, where
phosphorus availability and nitrogen leaching are among the most severe
limitations for agriculture. Microbial immobilization may prevent nitrogen
losses and the stimulation of endomycorrhizal associations and
heterotrophic phosphate solubilising bacteria might increase the
availability of phosphorus. The BR, microbial biomass, population growth
and the microbe?s efficiency (expressed by the metabolic quotient as CO2
production per microbial biomass unit) increased linearly and
significantly with increasing charcoal concentrations (50, 100 and 150 g
kg-1 soil). Application of pyrogenous acid caused a sharp increase in all
parameters. We suppose that the condensates from smoke contain easily
degradable substances (and only small amounts of inhibitory agents) which
could be utilized by the microbes for their metabolism. I hope the results
will be published in ?Pedobiologia? soon.

Best,
Christoph Steiner



Am Do, 26.04.2007, 19:00, schrieb terrapreta-request at bioenergylists.org:
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> 1.  sugar usage (adkarve)
> 2. Re: John,s experiment. (Sean K. Barry)
>
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>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:10:48 +0530
> From: adkarve <adkarve at pn2.vsnl.net.in>
> Subject: [Terrapreta]  sugar usage
> To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
> Message-ID: <000701c787ca$32dc7240$4d69fea9 at adkarve>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
>
> I received many inquiries about sugar. I give below the thought processes
>  that led me to applying sugar to a field. Sorghu,m, being highly drought
> resistant, is quite popular with farmers who cannot irrigate their fields.
> Sorghum farmers drill the seed into the field
> when the first showers of the monsoon have wetted the soil sufficiently to
>  assure germination of the seed. After that stage, if the rainfall is
> adequate, the farmers harvest an average 2 tonnes of grain and about 4
> tonnes (dry weight) of fodder per ha. If the rainfall is inadequate, they
>  lose the crop. Since the harvest is uncertain, the farmers do not apply
> any inputs to the field. The grain is used as human  food and the stems
> and leaves are fed to cattle. Only the roots are left in the field to rot.
>  When one looks at the input and output of plant nutrients in the case of
> a sorghum field, it becomes obvious that the soil loses more nutrients
> every year than it receives. I therefore started looking for mechanisms
> that would allow the soil to sustain such robbery of the nutrients.
> Although water,
> carbon dioxide and perhaps even nitrogen are derived from the atmosphere,
> the other nutrients have to come from the soil. This led me to search for
>  mechanisms that would generate water soluble nutrient ions every year
> anew in the soil. As stated above, the roots of sorghum rot in situ. Like
> seeds, roots too to contain plant nutrients.  If you cut a plant at soil
> level, it sprouts again, using the food stored in the roots. Normally,
> when one applies only composted organic matter to the field. Compost does
> not have much nutritional value as far as the soil micro-organisms are
> concerned. Therefore, although the agronomists recommend the application
> of compost to the field as a source of food for the soil micro-organisms,
> the doses of application of compost (25 to 40 tonnes per ha) are
> calculated on the basis of its N,P and K content, and not on the basis of
> its nutritional calorific value. The roots thus represent non-composted,
> high calorie source of carbon. Because the micro-organisms need the same
> mineral nutrients that the green plants need, I argued, that the soil
> micro-organisms utilize the carbon and the energy in the roots to extract
> mineral ions from the normally insoluble soil minerals.  When the roots
> have been completely consumed, the micro-organisms too die, releasing the
> minerals in their cells for the next crop of sorghum. I started
> experimenting with sugar, because it represented a high calorie carbon
> source, that did not have any mineral components in its molecular
> structure. Later on I learned that the water of guttation that falls
> every night from the leaves of sorghum on the soil surface, also contains
> sugar. When I started looking for similar phenomena, I found that water of
>  guttation of safflower also contained sugar. The water of guttation of
> chickpea contains organic acids. It was clear that the plants were
> already feeding the soil micro-organisms with  high calorie, noncomposted
> organic matter, long before I thought of it. Therefore, it is not the
> quality of sugar or its composition that is important. It has to be a high
> calorie, non-composted organic substance. At least under Indian
> conditions, application of about 25 kg (dry weight) of such a substance to
> a hectare, once every two or three months, gives very good results. I got
> interested in terra preta because charcoal, with its highly porous nature,
> offers a much increased surface area for the soil micro-organisms to
> settle on. Application of charcoal, along with relatively small
> quantities of high calorie, non-composted organic matter may evolve in
> future as the new agronomic practice. Yours
> A.D.Karve
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 09:03:37 -0500
> From: "Sean K. Barry" <sean.barry at juno.com>
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] John,s experiment.
> To: <terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>, "Tom Miles" <tmiles at trmiles.com>,
> "John G. Flottvik" <jovick at shaw.ca>
> Message-ID: <AABDDBNJ2A6Q5YUA at smtp02.nyc.untd.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
> Hi John,
>
>
> Yes, I have your descriptions still around.  Consider doing replicates in
> your next experiments.  Good luck with the ones you are working on now
> and thank you for doing this work and providing us reports.
>
> Regards,
>
>
> SKB
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: John G. Flottvik<mailto:jovick at shaw.ca>
> To: Sean K. Barry<mailto:sean.barry at juno.com> ;
> terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> ; Tom
> Miles<mailto:tmiles at trmiles.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 11:40 PM
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] John,s experiment.
>
>
>
> Sean.
>
>
> I hoped that I had explained clearly before, but I have 6 different seeds
> ( vegtables) in 10 variations of soils.
> Tomorrow I am going to collect some new soils from farms, gardens and
> fields, find some more pots to do a few more samples. I'm not to happy
> with bought soils as I dont think it will give the real answer we are
> looking for. That said, what I have now is worth keeping track of, so I
> will just add to the variation.
>
> Regards
> John
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Sean K. Barry<mailto:sean.barry at juno.com>
> To: 'John G. Flottvik'<mailto:jovick at shaw.ca> ;
> terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> ; Tom
> Miles<mailto:tmiles at trmiles.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 9:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] John,s experiment.
>
>
>
> Tom, thanks for posting the pictures.
>
>
> John, it sure is exciting to see pictures with some results from some
> real experiments with charcoal in soil!  I don't remember, but hopefully,
> you have duplicates or triplicates of the varied test samples.  If you
> don't, consider making some up.  Make duplicates or triplicates of all
> the pots, with all the same variances, plant the same kinds of seeds.
> The replication will help with validating a real effective combination
> and maybe keep us from having some fluke "super-grower" radish seed
> "sport" in one of the pots, making us think its an obvious winning
> recipe. Do you know what I mean?
>
>
> Happy Gardening,
>
>
> SKB
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Tom Miles<mailto:tmiles at trmiles.com>
> To: 'John G. Flottvik'<mailto:jovick at shaw.ca> ;
> terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 7:17 PM
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] John,s experiment.
>
>
>
> See:
> http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=jfbiocarbonapr25<http://terrapret
> a.bioenergylists.org/?q=jfbiocarbonapr25>
>
>
>
> Be sure and click on the photos for a full view.
>
>
>
>
> Thanks John
>
>
>
>
> Tom
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From:
> terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org<mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergy
> lists.org> [mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of
> John G. Flottvik
> Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 4:16 PM
> To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org>
> Subject: [Terrapreta] John,s experiment.
>
>
>
>
> Dear List & Kevin.
>
>
>
>
> Kevin, your radishes win, they came up first.
>
>
>
>
> Came home from a two day trip and the radishes are all showing. Pot # 4
> which has 75 % liteway and 25 % JF BioCarbon
>
> is the best but please view new photos that I will ask Tom to post on
> terra preta.
>
> Pot #5 with straight garden soil has the poorest showing. Also see pot
> with 10 % charcoal.
>
>
>
> Thanks to Kevin for suggesting radishes.
>
>
>
>
> Regards
>
>
>
>
> John Flottvik
>
>
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