http://www.nutri-tech.com.au/blog/2010/06/silica-the-hidden-cost-of-chemicals/
Silica – The Hidden Cost of Chemicals
A major mineral is missing in many soils and most soil tests do not even monitor its presence. This mineral can increase stress resistance, boost photosynthesis and chlorophyll content, improve drought resistance, salt tolerance and soil fertility and prevent lodging. lt can also reduce insect pressure, frost damage and destructive disease while lowering irrigation rates, neutralising heavy metal toxicity and countering the negative effects of excess sodium. If I were to tell you that this same missing mineral can increase root growth, boost yield and enhance crop quality, you could well ask, “how could we have overlooked something so important?” and you would be correctIt has been a serious oversight. The mineral in question is silicon, and science is rapidly revealing the scope and scale of our silicon neglect.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Nutrients and Micronutrients in Agriculture
https://www.pioneer.com/home/site/us/agronomy/library/template.CONTENT/guid.7C664217-6A2C-4E51-892A-9CD61FEFC449
Micronutrients for Crop Production
By Steve Butzen, Agronomy Information Manager
Summary
Plant Requirements and Soil Availability
Micronutrient Removal by Crops
Detecting Micronutrient Deficiencies
Managing Micronutrient Deficiencies
References
Summary
Due to higher yields, commodity prices and crop input costs, growers are reviewing all potential barriers to top grain production, including micronutrient deficiencies.
In the major crops and production areas of North America, the micronutrients most often supplied by fertilization include zinc, manganese, boron and iron.
Micronutrient deficiencies can be detected by visual symptoms on crops and by testing soils and plant tissues.
The most reliable micronutrient soil tests are for zinc, boron, copper, and manganese. Though adequate, these tests are not as precise as those for soil pH, potassium and phosphorus.
Plant tissue analysis is more reliable than soil testing for identifying many micronutrient problems, and can also supplement soil test information.
Most often, micronutrients are soil-applied in a band at planting, or foliar-applied, as these methods allow lower use rates of sometimes expensive materials.
Micronutrients for Crop Production
By Steve Butzen, Agronomy Information Manager
Summary
Plant Requirements and Soil Availability
Micronutrient Removal by Crops
Detecting Micronutrient Deficiencies
Managing Micronutrient Deficiencies
References
Summary
Due to higher yields, commodity prices and crop input costs, growers are reviewing all potential barriers to top grain production, including micronutrient deficiencies.
In the major crops and production areas of North America, the micronutrients most often supplied by fertilization include zinc, manganese, boron and iron.
Micronutrient deficiencies can be detected by visual symptoms on crops and by testing soils and plant tissues.
The most reliable micronutrient soil tests are for zinc, boron, copper, and manganese. Though adequate, these tests are not as precise as those for soil pH, potassium and phosphorus.
Plant tissue analysis is more reliable than soil testing for identifying many micronutrient problems, and can also supplement soil test information.
Most often, micronutrients are soil-applied in a band at planting, or foliar-applied, as these methods allow lower use rates of sometimes expensive materials.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Silicon in plant and soil
http://www.silicon-nutrition.info/Silicon_in_plants_and_soil.html
Silicon in plant and soil
Silicon protects plants from stress. Benefits of the nutrient especially become evident in adverse situations. While it is so difficult to prove the essentiality of silicon, experts often call the element 'beneficial' or even 'quasi-essential'.
As a rule of thumb cereals and other monocotyledonous crops rank as silicon accumulators and dicotyledonous plants are non-accumulators. On hydroponics however, several dicotyledonous pot plants, cut flowers and vegetable crops benefit from silicon fertilisation.
Soluble silicon in soil solution is at a pH range from 2 to 9 mainly present as orthosilicate. In this form silicon is an uncharged compound and is sensitive to leaching. Although sandy soils are silicon-rich, soluble silicon content is usually very low. Apart from rice products containing potting soils, growing media for pot plant and woody ornamentals are often poor in silicon.
Silicon in plant and soil
Silicon protects plants from stress. Benefits of the nutrient especially become evident in adverse situations. While it is so difficult to prove the essentiality of silicon, experts often call the element 'beneficial' or even 'quasi-essential'.
As a rule of thumb cereals and other monocotyledonous crops rank as silicon accumulators and dicotyledonous plants are non-accumulators. On hydroponics however, several dicotyledonous pot plants, cut flowers and vegetable crops benefit from silicon fertilisation.
Soluble silicon in soil solution is at a pH range from 2 to 9 mainly present as orthosilicate. In this form silicon is an uncharged compound and is sensitive to leaching. Although sandy soils are silicon-rich, soluble silicon content is usually very low. Apart from rice products containing potting soils, growing media for pot plant and woody ornamentals are often poor in silicon.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Sericulture Blogs
http://simoncharsley.blogspot.in/
SILK IN S INDIA
THIS NEW SITE IS FOR POSTINGS FOR 'SILK PRODUCTION IN SOUTH INDIA: AN EVALUATIVE HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES, 1790S TO 1990S', SUPPORTED IN 2008-2010 BY THE BRITISH ACADEMY.
http://silkwormmori.blogspot.in/
THE SILKWORM
This blog covers the entire domain of sericulture. It is designed for providing a common platform for discussion between scientists, policy makers and students in the field. reproduction of content from this blog with due acknowledgement is encouraged.
http://silkwormmori.blogspot.in/2010/11/sericulture-in-cevennes-from-first.html
Sericulture in the Cévennes: from a first visit, autumn 2010
"Prof.Simon Charsley’s name evokes mixed feelings of respect, admiration and affection in our minds."
"Professor Charsley spent his prime years in India, and took up study on a topic which would have appeared rather unfashionable to the contemporary intelligentsia. His introduction to Indian Sericulture was quite accidental. In his own words”... I first came to India on a Younger Scientist exchange programme and found sericulture in Mysore. The enthusiasm that I met led me to a research project on the silk industry and how it worked in practice, and also to many good friends....” That was in the mid seventies- an era marked by rapid modernisation of Indian sericulture sector. The result of his intensive study of the rural livelihood was the classic “Culture and Sericulture (1982)” which still remains one of the most authentic documentations on Indian sericulture and probably the only one comparable to the work of Lefroy and Ansorge (1915), though different in perspective and purpose. Subsequently he wrote a number of papers practically covering every aspect of the industry viz.regulated markets, middlemen, technology, silk reeling etc. which still remain most valuble reference material for students of respective disciplines.
Indian sericulture is indebted to Prof. Charsley, primarily for bringing it into the contemporary developmental rhetoric. He was the first and (unfortunately) the last to address sericulture as a livestock industry. Probably its scope of being so designated is largely under-estimated by the academics and policy makers. Prof. Charsley argued that sericulture shares much with and historically has led the way for other livestock industries and advocated its importance in the developmental context. His view of sericulture- as a ‘study material’ in social and anthropological assessment of development in a society where people are separated not only by status, culture and life circumstances but also by religion caste and politics is still highly relevant. "
SILK IN S INDIA
THIS NEW SITE IS FOR POSTINGS FOR 'SILK PRODUCTION IN SOUTH INDIA: AN EVALUATIVE HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES, 1790S TO 1990S', SUPPORTED IN 2008-2010 BY THE BRITISH ACADEMY.
http://silkwormmori.blogspot.in/
THE SILKWORM
This blog covers the entire domain of sericulture. It is designed for providing a common platform for discussion between scientists, policy makers and students in the field. reproduction of content from this blog with due acknowledgement is encouraged.
http://silkwormmori.blogspot.in/2010/11/sericulture-in-cevennes-from-first.html
Sericulture in the Cévennes: from a first visit, autumn 2010
"Prof.Simon Charsley’s name evokes mixed feelings of respect, admiration and affection in our minds."
"Professor Charsley spent his prime years in India, and took up study on a topic which would have appeared rather unfashionable to the contemporary intelligentsia. His introduction to Indian Sericulture was quite accidental. In his own words”... I first came to India on a Younger Scientist exchange programme and found sericulture in Mysore. The enthusiasm that I met led me to a research project on the silk industry and how it worked in practice, and also to many good friends....” That was in the mid seventies- an era marked by rapid modernisation of Indian sericulture sector. The result of his intensive study of the rural livelihood was the classic “Culture and Sericulture (1982)” which still remains one of the most authentic documentations on Indian sericulture and probably the only one comparable to the work of Lefroy and Ansorge (1915), though different in perspective and purpose. Subsequently he wrote a number of papers practically covering every aspect of the industry viz.regulated markets, middlemen, technology, silk reeling etc. which still remain most valuble reference material for students of respective disciplines.
Indian sericulture is indebted to Prof. Charsley, primarily for bringing it into the contemporary developmental rhetoric. He was the first and (unfortunately) the last to address sericulture as a livestock industry. Probably its scope of being so designated is largely under-estimated by the academics and policy makers. Prof. Charsley argued that sericulture shares much with and historically has led the way for other livestock industries and advocated its importance in the developmental context. His view of sericulture- as a ‘study material’ in social and anthropological assessment of development in a society where people are separated not only by status, culture and life circumstances but also by religion caste and politics is still highly relevant. "
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