www.agtechdaily.com
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Home
  • Agriculture
  • Food
  • Technology
  • Sustainability
Contact
ABOUT US
  • Home
  • Agriculture
  • Food
  • Technology
  • Sustainability
No Result
View All Result
www.agtechdaily.com
No Result
View All Result
Home Agriculture

Earthworms have the potential to replace use of synthetic fertilisers

Admin by Admin
March 2, 2022
Reading Time:4min read
0

RELATED POSTS

Impact of bulk density and content of rock fragments

Almost all of Africa’s maize crop is at risk from devastating fall armyworm pest, study reveals

Copying nature to help plants resist viruses

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Earthworms could have the potential to replace some high-cost mineral/synthetic fertilizers, new research suggests.

Researchers at University College Dublin have unearth fresh insight into the soil dweller’s importance for crops taking up nutrients.

The findings suggest a shortcut in the soil nitrogen cycle not previously recognized in which earthworms, when they are active, rapidly enrich soil and plants through nitrogen excreted in their mucus.

The role of soil animals such as earthworms in nutrient cycling is traditionally seen as beneficial but indirect, slow and cumulative.

However, this may not be the whole story, according to UCD Professor Olaf Schmidt, from the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science.

“The real novel insight [we found] is that nitrogen from worms is going into crops really fast. Up to now we assumed this involved slow decomposition processes and microbial cycling. But our experiments show that nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) movement from living soil animals to plants can be extremely rapid,” he said.

Buy JNews
ADVERTISEMENT

Earthworm presence in the soil is already known to increase crop yield in the long run, through their burrowing and feeding which which creates good soil structure and releases nitrogen that is otherwise locked away in soil organic matter.

Under laboratory and field conditions, a team of researchers from Ireland, Germany and China was able to track the nutrient transfer from earthworms into soil, wheat seedlings, and greenflies (aphids) using a method called stable isotope tracers.

They found earthworm-derived nitrogen was acquired by greenflies after just two hours under laboratory conditions, and after 24 hours in the field. The researcher were astonished just how fast worm nitrogen moved through soil, to roots, into plants and into the insects feeding on plant sap.

“This is very exciting because it suggests that earthworms probably supply nitrogen directly to crops, and they do it exactly when crops need it most because both earthworm activity and crop growth are sort of synchronized, by environmental factors, mostly temperature and moisture,” said Professor Schmidt.

The newly discovered benefits could be particularly significant in farming systems trying to reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers.

The agricultural sector should maximize the financial benefits of this nitrogen supplied by earthworms as a potential alternative to synthetic fertilizers, which are very costly as the world’s supply chains continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and energy prices rise.

“This work could inform how farmers manage land, soil life and nitrogen supply,” said Professor Schmidt. “By adopting cropping practices that promote earthworms, these dynamic nitrogen benefits will also be maximized. We knew from previous research that good earthworm populations contribute agronomically significant amounts of nitrogen to the soil, but we did not know that they can supply crops with nitrogen in such a dynamic fashion.”

“Farmers cannot always know in advance when to apply mineral/synthetic fertilizers because crops may not need nitrogen if it is too cold or too dry, and then the applied expensive nitrogen is lost to the environment, as nitrate leached down into groundwater or as nitrogen gases emitted into the atmosphere.

“All forms of nitrogen supplied naturally, from the soil’s own stores, through decomposition and mineralisation, are economically and environmentally highly valuable and desirable, so we should maximize them,” he added.

“I don’t think earthworms will replace all mineral and organic fertilizers, but their full use as a natural nutrient supply could offset the use and cost of mineral/synthetic fertilizers.

“All in all, this is another new reason why we should work more with soil biology and encourage the use of soil organisms like earthworms, because our land use and farming methods will be more environmentally sustainable and also more economical because we can save synthetic fertilizers.”


Measuring nitrogen in green manures


More information:
Ganna S. Shutenko et al, Rapid transfer of C and N excreted by decomposer soil animals to plants and above-ground herbivores, Soil Biology and Biochemistry (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2022.108582. www.sciencedirect.com/science/ … ii/S0038071722000396

Provided by
University College Dublin


Citation:
Earthworms have the potential to replace use of synthetic fertilisers (2022, March 1)
retrieved 2 March 2022
from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-earthworms-potential-synthetic-fertilisers.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.



Source link

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
Admin

Admin

Related Posts

Agriculture

Impact of bulk density and content of rock fragments

February 1, 2023
Agriculture

Almost all of Africa’s maize crop is at risk from devastating fall armyworm pest, study reveals

February 1, 2023
Agriculture

Copying nature to help plants resist viruses

February 1, 2023
Agriculture

The unlikely food source for pollinators

February 1, 2023
Agriculture

European farms mix things up to guard against food-supply shocks

January 28, 2023
Agriculture

Development of machine vision system capable of locating king flowers on apple trees

January 28, 2023
Next Post

How Air Protein is making the journey from concept to product

Farmers turn to technology to conserve nitrogen – AgriNews

Latest News

Ministry hails K124m investment in clean agriculture

May 20, 2022

Backyard hens’ eggs in Australia contain 40 times more lead on average than shop eggs, research finds

August 10, 2022

Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority Announces Biofuel Infrastructure Funding – Agriculture Industry Today

April 9, 2022

Most Popular

  • Agricultural E-Commerce Boosts Incomes For Cherry farmers in Shandong

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Seeds of Discord: Farmers Accused of Fraud in Dicamba Dispute | Arkansas Business News

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Farm Credit Administration tours the Midwest – Agweek

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 12 Biggest Agriculture Companies in the World

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • How Technology Is Changing Agriculture

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
www.agtechdaily.com

AgTech Daily provides in-depth journalism and insight into the most impactful news and trends shaping the agricultural and food technology industry

Categories

  • Agriculture
  • Announcements
  • Food
  • Others
  • Sustainability
  • Technology

Quick Links

  • Home
  • About us

© 2022 - All Right Reserved. www.agtechdaily.com.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Agriculture
  • Food
  • Technology
  • Sustainability

© 2022 - All Right Reserved. www.agtechdaily.com.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
%d bloggers like this: