How fertile is your soil? monday ueesday mercoday giovday venerdì 1 23 45 june june june june june Stick a Fertimeter in it and watch… An indicator stick got released and popped up thursday friday 45 june june Snap ! A cotton filament has broken in the soil An indicator stick got released and popped up friday 5 june A silk filament has broken in the soil What happened? Soil contains bacteria and fungi The more they are, the more they work… The more they work, the more organic matter is mineralized and nutrients are released for the plant roots The faster they work, the more your soil is FERTILE How does it work inside? The threads are kept in tension by springs When microbes in soil have chewed off half of the resistance of the thread it breaks … And the indicator stick pops up There are six threads Three are made of cotton = Cellulose (Plant fibers) Three are made of silk = Proteins (Animal fibers) 1) Cotton 1) Silk 2) Cotton + Nitrogen (was soaked in NH4NO3) 2) Silk + Nitrogen (was soaked in NH4NO3) 3) Cotton + Phosphorus (Was soaked in Na2HPO4 KH2PO4) 3) Silk + Phosphorus (Was soaked in Na2HPO4 KH2PO4) 1) Cotton What are the threads + N and +P for? Bacteria are made of Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus etc.. Cotton = cellulose = carbon One bacterium chews cotton and gets carbon to make a second bacterium… But it takes also N to build its sister cell… It can find N in the soil Now two cells chew the carbon thread TWICE AS FAST 2) Cotton + Nitrogen 1) Cotton 2) Cotton + Nitrogen But what if the soil is POOR in Nitrogen… The earlier the thread with N will break in comparison to the one without it, the more your soil needs nitrogen The bacterium can not reproduce X But if there is N on the thread… IT CAN… And the thread with N will BREAK EARLIER THAN THE ONE WITHOUT IT The same concept applies to Phosphorus and tells you if your soil needs P Cotton reports on the cellulosolysis and silk on the proteolytic activities, The combined information gives you a full insight on organic matter mineralization in your soil Your result What do you record? Days from planting to snap At which time from planting has each thread broken? monday ueesday mercoday giovday venerdì 1 23 45 june june june june june Cotton: 12 days Cotton + N: 7 days Cotton + P: 8 days Silk: 10 days Silk + N : 10 days Silk + P : 6 days Interpretive Chart Fertimeter ® Did the thread + Nitrogen (or Phosphorus) snap earlier that the one without nutrients? How much earlier? Cotton: < 5 days: very fertile Cotton: > 5 days< 12 days :fertile Cotton: > 12 days : low fertility Cotton – Cotton +N: = 0 days : no need for N Cotton – Cotton +N: < 3 days : low N need Cotton – Cotton +N: > 3 < 6 days : medium N need Cotton – Cotton +N: > 6 days : high N need Etc. etc… …Thread n. 3 in Fertimeter unit n.24 in field n.12 has snapped at 12.33 p.m…. Wireless sensing evolved version Instead of indicator sticks, it mounts a transducer sending data to a PC Thank you for your attention