Using Manure Treatment for Soil Microbial Management
As a result of a shortage of fertilizer in the agricultural industry, an increasing number of large-scale farmers are turning to manure and compost as alternative sources of nutrients. The limited supply and high costs of fertilizers have compelled growers to search for more accessible and economical alternatives.
With the current fertilizer price hike and global scarcity, compost and manure serve as valuable sources of nutrients. These organic fertilizers are beneficial in maintaining soil fertility, improving plant health, and increasing crop yield and annual revenue. Compared to synthetic fertilizers, organic fertilizers are usually cheaper and can be sourced locally.
Manure and compost can provide support for a grower’s fertilizer program, however, they cannot maximize the potential return on their own. The reason is that a healthy, diverse, and well-nourished soil microbiome is essential to unlocking the valuable nutrients trapped in the manure and compost materials. Therefore, farms with an inactive or unhealthy soil microbiome will lose out on nutrient availability, which will adversely impact their overall return on investment (ROI) from the input.
This is why Healthy Farms believes that it is crucial to invest in microbial food or manure treatment that can benefit your soil. Maintaining a healthy and thriving soil microbiome is critical for the success of any farm or garden. Simply adding raw manure to the soil can have negative consequences, such as the introduction of pathogens and weed seeds. This is why there is a need for effective manure treatment methods that can eliminate these potential risks while also promoting the growth of beneficial microorganisms. In this post, we tell you all about how manure treatment can manage soil microbes and some of the most promising approaches that are currently available.
Microbes: What They Are and Why We Need Them
To achieve sustainable agriculture, it’s crucial to prioritize the health and quality of your soil, which can be achieved by supplying a balanced mix of nutrients to your soil microbiome. Doing so not only helps to maximize crop yield potential but also serves as the foundation for sustainable farming practices.
A single teaspoon of soil contains an astonishing one billion microorganisms, comprising a diverse range of species, but among them, bacteria and fungi play an especially critical role in promoting the health of plants and soil.
Bacteria are an essential component of a healthy soil microbiome. One of their primary roles is to break down nutrients in the soil, making them more readily available to plants. This process, known as mineralization, involves breaking down complex organic matter into simpler forms that can be absorbed by plant roots.
The sticky, adhesive substance in bacteria also helps to create a better soil structure. Bacteria not only help to unlock vital nutrients for plant growth, but they also contribute to creating a healthy and productive soil environment. By promoting soil aggregation and improving soil structure, bacteria are key players in maintaining soil health and quality.
Fungi are another important part of the soil ecosystem. Like bacteria, they help to break down nutrients in the soil into forms that plants can use. This is important because plants cannot absorb nutrients in their original, complex form. Fungi also produce enzymes that can break down tough organic matter that other organisms can’t digest.
Fungi have a unique root structure called mycelium, which is a network of tiny, thread-like structures that extend through the soil. These structures help fungi to explore and scavenge for nutrients in the soil, and they can even form symbiotic relationships with plant roots.
Fungi can also help to improve soil texture and structure. They produce larger aggregates that can improve soil structure and make it easier for water to move through the soil, which is important for plant growth. Fungi are important for nutrient cycling and can form beneficial relationships with plant roots.
Most farmland has a low level of active microbes in the soil. This is often due to a lack of vital nutrients that microbes need to survive, such as carbon and nitrogen. When microbes are starved of these nutrients, they go dormant and cannot access the nutrients in fertilizers.
This can lead to poor crop yields and reduced farm productivity. However, large-scale farmers can promote higher microbial growth by using strategic carbon products, such as compost, manure, or biochar. These products provide the vital nutrients that microbes need to thrive, which in turn can improve soil health and increase crop yield performance.
How Microbes And Manure Treatment Are Beneficial For Manure and Compost
The availability of nutrients for plants depends on several factors, including temperature, moisture, and food supply. Simply adding compost or manure to the soil may not ensure that your crops will be able to access all the nutrients contained in the organic fertilizer.
This is especially true if your soil has an inactive or unhealthy community of microbes, which is common on many farms. In such cases, a significant portion of the nutrients present in the compost or manure may go to waste, as the microbes responsible for breaking down the organic matter may not be able to do so efficiently. As a result, it’s important to promote the growth of a healthy and diverse soil microbiome to maximize the benefits of organic fertilizers.
The Scientific Explanation
The nutrients found in organic fertilizers, such as compost and manure, are closely tied to the carbon structure of these materials. The release rate of nitrogen within this structure is controlled by soil microbes. Carbon serves as the primary source of energy for these microorganisms, and they also use nitrogen to support their growth and activity.
As microbes consume carbon, nitrogen is released through a process called mineralization. This release of nitrogen is crucial for plant nutrient growth and development. Two forms of nitrogen, ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3-), are released during this process. After the microbes have released the nutrients, plants can then utilize the nitrogen to carry out photosynthesis and grow.
Soil microbes play a critical role in supporting healthy plant growth by providing a consistent release of essential nutrients to the plants. Compost and manure-based nutrients are known for being slow-releasing and long-lasting, which is particularly beneficial when the soil has an active and healthy microbiome. This enables crops to receive a steady stream of nutrients from just a few applications, as the mineralization process continues to occur.
Manure Treatment Can Help
While compost and organic fertilizers are one type of nitrogen source for plants, other sources include organic soil matter, crop residue, and irrigation water. Regardless of the source, microbes can mineralize all these unique nitrogen sources to provide plants with the nutrients they need to grow. Therefore, investing in manure treatment products like ours at Healthy Farms can offer more than just breaking down manure and compost. Instead, it can support soil and yield goals throughout the year by promoting a healthy, active microbiome.
This assumes that the soil microbes are already alert and not inactive due to a lack of nourishment. If the microbes in the soil haven’t been fed regularly with manure treatment, there’s a strong probability that they are not functioning correctly. Without these live microbes, the nutrients present in organic fertilizers can’t be released to enhance the soil’s overall health and quality. These are two critical factors in ensuring positive crop results.
Shop Our Manure Treatment Products at Healthy Farms
Manure treatment not only increases the number of soil microbes but also nourishes and awakens dormant and starving microbes. Our unique method enhances your soil’s biodiversity, refines soil texture, and enhances crop yields. Moreover, activating microbes helps in breaking down manure, which can reduce the likelihood of runoff, water contamination, or algae blooms in local water sources.
When it comes to using carbon or bio-stimulant manure treatment products, it’s important to take a long-term approach to soil health and crop performance. This means looking beyond just the growing season and considering the bigger picture. One effective strategy is to pair manure treatment or compost treatment with the application of carbon products in both the spring and fall. This can help ensure that the soil microbes receive the necessary nutrients they need to break down the organic materials and release the nutrients in a timely manner for the crop’s use.
It’s also important to feed the microbes throughout the summer growing months to sustain crop yields. This can be achieved by applying carbon products like PhycoTerra® at strategic times during the growing season. By doing this, you can promote a healthy, active microbiome that can help support optimal crop growth and yield. Additionally, nourishing microbes before the hard freeze can help control crop residue without tillage.
By using our manure treatment at Healthy Farms, large-scale farmers can improve soil quality, increase water holding capacity, optimize NPK availability, and enhance crop yields and return on investment. Visit our products page today and purchase yours or ask our team for more information!