About Hideo Ikeda：
A native of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, was born in 1935. He came to China in 1997 and studied Chinese and agricultural knowledge at Shandong University. Since 2002, he has worked with the School of Horticulture, Shandong Agricultural University, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and some other places in Shouguang and Feicheng. Enterprise units and relevant local government departments jointly study the problems in agricultural production in Shandong and are engaged in the prevention and control of soil-borne diseases and soil improvement, as well as related research on strawberry cultivation. In Shouguang City, Jinan City, Tai’an City, Feicheng City, Qufu City, and other places to guide the production of organic compost, soil improvement, soil-borne disease control, and strawberry cultivation. In February 2010, he obtained the foreign expert certificate (type: economic and technical) awarded by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of the People’s Republic of China.
1. Introduction
In recent years, the word “Green Food” has been rapidly popularized, and consumers’ desire to eat “safe food that can be eaten with confidence” is getting louder and louder.
The reason why organic agriculture, which produces green food, has attracted so much attention, is the background of the agricultural method that constitutes the mainstream of modern agriculture, which began in the second half of the 20th century with the extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
The popularization of chemical fertilizers has caused a great retrogression of organic fertilizers, followed by a decline in arable land productivity. This greatly affects the quality and yield of agricultural products. Agricultural products produced on land without soil fertility are unhealthy, prone to problems such as pesticide residues, and losing the original taste of crops. With the improvement of people’s living standards, these constitute important reasons why consumers need “safe and delicious food”.
Organic farming is not a new industry. Until the introduction of chemical fertilizers in the second half of the last century, it was a common agricultural production method everywhere. In particular, Chinese compost has a history of 4,000 years. During this period, organic farming, based on the application of compost, allowed healthy and productive land to be maintained. But it has been devastated by less than 50 years of modern agriculture dominated by chemical fertilizers. This has led to today’s serious situation.
To overcome this serious situation, we must learn from history and combine modern technology to construct a new type of organic agriculture, thus opening up a sustainable and stable agricultural road.
2. Fertilizers and composting
Chemical fertilizers have the characteristics of many fertilizer components, high fertilizer efficiency, and quick effect. In addition, the processed products are easy to use, and only a small amount is required, and the labor burden is also small, so there are many advantages. The disadvantage of this fertilizer is that it does not contain humus of organic matter.
Although compost generally has few fertilizer components and a late fertilizer effect, its advantage is that it contains various substances that promote biological development, such as hummus, amino acids, vitamins, and trace elements. These are the elements that characterize organic agriculture.
The active ingredients of compost are the things produced by the decomposition of organic matter by microorganisms, which are not found in inorganic fertilizers.
3. The advantages of composting
At present, there is a huge amount of “organic waste” from human society, such as residues, excrement, and domestic waste from the agricultural and livestock industries. This not only results in a waste of resources but also brings huge social problems. Most of them are incinerated or buried as useless waste. These things that were finally disposed of have turned into important causes of greater air pollution, water pollution, and other public hazards, causing immeasurable harm to society.
The composting treatment of these organic wastes has the possibility to fundamentally solve the above problems. History tells us that “all the organic matter from the earth returns to the earth” is the cycle state that is most in line with the laws of nature, and it is also beneficial and harmless to human beings.
Only when “soil, plants, animals, and humans” form a healthy biological chain, can human health be ensured. When the environment and health are improved, The interest enjoyed by human beings will benefit our future generations, and the blessings are unlimited.
4. The role and efficacy of composting
Healthy crops grow in healthy environments. The most important of these is soil. Compost has a significant effect on improving the soil while fertilizers don’t.
When improving soil to create healthy land, the most need to consider is the “physical”, “biological”, and “chemical” these three elements. The elements are summarized as follows:
Physical properties: ventilation, drainage, water retention, etc.
Biological: decompose organic matter in the soil, generate nutrients, form aggregates, inhibit soil diseases, and improve crop quality.
Chemical: Chemical elements such as soil chemical composition (nutrients), pH value (acidity), and CEC (nutrient retention).
When improving soils and advancing the creation of healthy land, it is important to prioritize the three above. Specifically, the general order is to adjust the physical properties of the soil first, and then consider its biological properties and chemical properties on this basis.
⑴ physical improvement
The humus produced in the process of decomposition of organic matter by microorganisms can promote the formation of soil granulation, and there are large and small pores in the soil. It can have the following effects:
Aeration: through large and small pores, the air necessary for plant roots and microbial respiration is supplied.
Drainage: Water easily penetrates the ground through large pores, eliminating the damage of excessive humidity (rotten roots, lack of air). When irrigating, the surface will not accumulate water to cause water evaporation or loss, which improves the water utilization rate.
Water retention: Small pores have a water retention effect, which can supply water to the roots for a long time, thereby improving the drought resistance of the soil.
(2) Biological improvement
The species and number of soil organisms (micro-organisms and small animals, etc.) that feed on organic matter have increased greatly, and the biological phase has become diversified and enriched. Organic matter is decomposed into nutrients for crops by the action of these soil organisms. In addition, under the action of humus produced in this process, the degree of soil agglomeration increases, and numerous pores are formed in the soil.
Inhibition of pests and diseases: After the biological phase is diversified, the proliferation of harmful organisms such as pathogenic bacteria can be inhibited through the antagonism between organisms. As a result, the occurrence of pests and diseases is also controlled.
Generation of growth-promoting substances: Under the action of microorganisms, growth-promoting substances useful for improving crop quality, such as amino acids, vitamins, and enzymes, are produced.
Promote soil agglomeration: The sticky substances, excrement, remains, etc. produced by microorganisms become binders for soil particles, which promotes soil agglomeration.
Decomposition of harmful substances: Microorganisms have the function of decomposing, purifying harmful substances, and hindering the growth of substances.
(3) Chemical improvement
Since the clay particles of humus and soil also have CEC (base displacement capacity: nutrient retention), the application of compost can improve soil fertility retention and play a buffering role in fertilizer efficiency.
Improve fertility retention: The original CEC of the soil plus the humus CEC is enough to improve the retention of fertilizer components. The retained fertilizer components can be supplied slowly according to the needs of the crop, thus increasing the fertilizer efficiency.
Buffering effect: Even if the fertilizer is applied too much because the fertilizer components can be temporarily stored, the crops will not be damaged by fertilizer burns.
Supplementing trace elements: In addition to N, P, K, Ca, Mg and other elements necessary for plant growth, organic wastes from plants, etc., also contain trace and indispensable S, Fe, Zn, Cu, B, Mn, Mo, etc., which were reintroduced into the soil by applying compost. To understand the importance of this, we only need to look at the following phenomenon: natural forests use photosynthetic carbohydrates and nutrients and water absorbed by roots for plant growth, and also accumulate from fallen leaves and branches in the soil. The humus formed on the ground absorbs nutrients for expanded reproduction (growth).
⑷ The effect of supplementing insufficient sunlight
Recent research results show that in addition to the above-mentioned improvement effects, compost also has the effect of directly absorbing water-soluble carbohydrates (amino acids, etc.) from the roots to promote the healthy development of crops. There is a conclusion in the previous theory that the roots of plants can only absorb inorganic nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphoric acid, but cannot absorb organic carbohydrates.
As we all know, plants produce carbohydrates through photosynthesis, thereby generating body tissues and obtaining the energy needed for growth. Therefore, with less light, photosynthesis is slow and healthy growth is not possible. However, if “carbohydrates can be absorbed from the roots”, the low photosynthesis caused by insufficient sunlight can be compensated by the carbohydrates absorbed from the roots. This is a well-known fact among some agricultural workers, that is, organic cultivation using compost is less affected by lack of sunlight in cool summers or years of natural disasters, and the fact the quality and quantity are better than chemical fertilizer cultivation has been scientifically confirmed. argument.
5. Three-phase distribution of soil and the role of roots
In the process of improving the soil with compost, an important measure is the “three-phase distribution of soil”, that is, the proportion of soil particles (solid phase), soil moisture (liquid phase), and soil air (air phase) in the soil. For crops and microorganisms, the suitable three-phase distribution is about 40% in the solid phase, 30% in the liquid phase, and 30% in the air phase. Both the liquid phase and air phase represents the content of pores in the soil, the liquid phase represents the content of small pores that hold capillary water, and the air phase represents the number of large pores that facilitate air circulation and drainage.
As we all know, most crops’ roots prefer 30~35% of air phase rate, which is related to the role of the roots. The roots of crops grow by drilling large pores, so the root system is well-developed. To absorb oxygen to meet vigorous growth activities, sufficient large pores must be ensured. Where the roots extend, they approach pores filled with capillary water, into which water is absorbed by the growing hairs on the front of the roots, root hairs can enter ten percent or three percent of a millimeter of small pores.
On the other hand, fertilizers applied to the soil are temporarily stored in the clay particles in the soil particles and in the humus of the soil, and then gradually dissolve into the water in the soil capillaries, which are then absorbed by the root hairs together with the water. At this time, the nutrients move toward the roots through the water in the capillary, which is a liquid phase, and the crops expand the roots and approach the place where the nutrients are present. In this way, water and nutrients are absorbed smoothly through the interaction of well-developed large pores, small pores, and thriving roots and root hairs.
In addition, the carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis and the oxygen absorbed by the roots of the crops will produce root acid in the roots of the crops. The secretion of root acid makes the insoluble minerals around the roots solubilized and absorbed, becoming the nutrients needed for crop growth.
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Post time: Apr-19-2022