A Manual for living soil ...
There are more and more expert voices that argue that it is urgent that the soil be considered a living entity in order to prolong the health and sustainability of the orchards.
In some cases, the orchards have a shorter life, produced by the compaction of soils, and in many cases the crops must be started to treat the soils, intervening them with machinery to produce a new softening and replanting crops, in a cycle that is becoming shorter and less sustainable.
In general agriculture in this aspect has advanced a lot, but information and application of new technologies or knowledge is lacking to maintain suitable soils to produce optimally and nothing guarantees that after a few years the problem of compaction will reappear.
Scientific research speaks of "living soils", which means attending not only the physical or chemical aspects of the soil, but also attending strongly to the biological aspects, the main quality that gives the character of life to the soil.
Living soils are not compacted, because under the surface there is a series of living organisms that, when performing their natural work, leave the land aerated and with good drainage capacity and structure.
How is a living soil determined?
The Observatory for Agrarian, Agroalimentary and Forestry Innovation, OPIA, informs that the launching of the "Manual for the Determination of the Biological Condition of Soil In Situ and In Visu in the areas of the Regional Center for Horticultural Innovation of Valparaíso, Ceres Agricultural Systems ", written by Carlo Sabaini and Gonzalo Ávila, director and researcher of the program.
The objective of the manual is to help agricultural producers and other stakeholders perceive the soil as a living organism, fixing life at the center of the nature of the soil. This is based on attitudinal, procedural and conceptual contents that guide the observations and qualitative assessments of the soils.
After a period of five years of work, the team of researchers could scientifically determine the areas that should be studied to determine how alive the soil was. The investigations reached conclusions that associated the Detritosfera and Rizósfera, that is the ground immediate to the alive roots, are the sources of organic matter and minerals; while the Drilósfera, or soil perforated by the action of the earthworms, acts as the generator of bioporous networks that leave the earthworms in their path, at the same time that activates the microorganisms, especially fungi; meanwhile, the Aggregosphere and the Porosphere are the physical expression of life in soils.
The knowledge of these five spheres of influence meant an innovation, since with this methodology the evaluation was reduced by means of visual soil assessment methods, so that it could be easily used by producers from any part of the country. For a soil to be considered alive or vital, it must meet optimal levels of development of these five aspects. In any case, if the condition of a soil is poor, or does not have the optimum qualities, it can be reversed.
The researchers postulate that the key is to reconnect with the natural matrix of the soils, composed of these five spheres, and to have a systemic and integral view of the agricultural system, because everything that has to do with the idea of recovering the biology of the soil has to be very connected with the plant and the biogeographic context.
In this perspective, it is advised in many cases to maintain the orchard with other vegetation, in such a way as to provoke the development of organic matter and attract with this the multiple living beings that act as antagonists of some pests that could be triggered. There are some organic vineyards that keep live plant corridors between rows to replace the use of pesticides by natural enemies.
Logically, each soil has its particularity, so it is appropriate to analyze the biological state of that soil in a particular way and then consider specific actions, which over time will become a recurrent and habitual practice.
"This is a process that takes time, but we hope to finish with the dependencies of phosphorus and nitrogen, and hopefully planting a fruit tree after another crop without having to mechanically prepare the soil," says Carlo Sabiani, director of the program.
This initiative was possible thanks to financing from Corfo, through the project "Development of a technological package for Biological Soil Restoration (RBS) for a competitive and sustainable fruit growing", carried out in different agricultural systems in central Chile, and it had the support of the Regional Program of the National Scientific and Technological Commission, Conicyt.
Source: Martín Carrillo O. - Blueberries Consulting
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