Elton Sacugy’s Post

Green agricultural fields in southern Romania became tinged with yellow as rows upon rows of what appear to be rapeseed or canola plants bloomed. The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on the Landsat 8 satellite captured these pops of color near the confluence of the Olt and Danube rivers on April 12, 2024.Rapeseed and canola plants are part of the Brassica family, which also includes cabbages and mustards. They produce clusters of small, brilliant yellow blooms that, en masse, blanket entire fields in gold. https://lnkd.in/d6CSGdXj

Plants with sufficient amounts of nitrogen should experience high levels of growth and development, due to the role it plays in the vital process of photosynthesis. #DeficiencyOfTheMonth #Plants #Horticulture 

And composting is a good way to use up food scraps thus keeping them out of the landfill.

Exciting to share that our paper has been published! Beyond grateful to see the results of our hard work and long days in the lab paying off :) Read Laura's description for a brief summary of our findings of the effects of #microplastics on #crops!🌱

A recent study demonstrates the effectiveness of combining #biochar and nano-hydroxyapatite in addressing multi-metal contamination in #mining area #soils. This innovative approach improves #soilhealth, reduces metal bioavailability, and enhances crop safety by influencing rhizosphere microbial communities, offering a sustainable solution for #agriculture. https://lnkd.in/dR2Kab7c

Compost can be used as an “organic fertilizer” when added to soil, slowly releasing nutrients over time. Synthetic fertilizers bring no value to the surrounding ecosystem of a plant, and when over applied, can burn lawns and pollute the surrounding environment in the form off run-off. That’s why many gardeners, farmers, botanists, researchers, and other professionals that interact with soil favor compost over fertilizer–it’s plant-strengthening, ecosystem-boosting, and carries long-lasting benefits. #ICAW2024 #MCAW2024 #NaturesClimateChampion #Compost #CompostOnMIMind Compost Research & Education Foundation (CREF)

May 16th 2023, Southern Curious Cockies, Kennington and Waianawa, Southland The group visited the BioActive Soils factory at Kennington to hear about their products and the impact they are having on crops and pastures.  Their products are fish based and use a variety of driers and bioreactors to create their line of solid products. About half the finished product is enzymes, the rest being their food. One farmer in the group has used their product down the chute instead of broadcasting and achieved very good results. The property we visited were over-wintering 1300 cows on crop and pasture. They’re in their first season of trialling multi-species crop but have yet to establish how the biomass compares to their monoculture of kale. However, one benefit has been it costs less than half the price of kale. Their long term goal is to be all grass wintering.

Agro-Industrial #Waste #Biochar Abated #Nitrogen #Leaching from Tropical Sandy #Soils and Boosted Dry Matter Accumulation in Maize by Michael Egyir et al. C 2023, 9(1), 34; https://lnkd.in/d384at4p Current number of article views: 1038 Abstract This study was conducted to assess the effects of amending tropical sandy soils with biochar derived from agro-industrial wastes on the leaching and utilization of nitrogen (N) by maize. The experiment was conducted in pots in a greenhouse with two sandy soil types and two different biochars. The biochars used in this experiment were preselected in a preliminary column experiment that assessed the N retention capacities of the different biochars and those that exhibited the best retention capacities chosen for experimentation. The biochars evaluated included saw dust, rice husk and corncob pyrolyzed at 500 °C and the results from the column leaching experiment showed that sawdust biochar had superior retention capacities for both NO3− and NH4+, followed by rice husk biochar. The pot experiment utilized sawdust and rice husk biochars applied at rates of 0, 20 and 40 t/ha to the soil treated with different N sources including cow dung and ammonium sulfate and growing maize on the amendments for two seasons with each season lasting for five weeks. The soils were leached on the 14th and 28th days after planting to determine the amount of leachable N. Biochar amendments reduced the leaching of NO3−N and NH4+N with no significant differences observed between biochar types, but between soil types. The abatement of leaching by biochar amendments consequently enhanced N uptake by maize and dry matter production and thus, agro-industrial waste biochar amendment is recommended for reducing leaching in tropical sandy soils. Keywords: #biochar; dry matter accumulation; #leaching of #nitrogen; nitrogen uptake; tropical sandy #soils

About six or more soil types are found distributed across different ecological zones. The soils are: 1. Alluvia's Three types of alluvials are important, namely alluvial of marine deposits found in mangrove areas which are suitable only for coconut growing; the alluvial near the coast which has a high sulphide content and when drained has the tendency to become acidic, and alluvial on #GeneralAgriculture