Experts weather forecast for 2023 is not so great as global temperatures have been predicted to go "off the chart"! One of the reasons is that during the La-Niña we have “benefited” from a cooling effects during the last 3 years. It’s said La-Niña ended in December 2022/January 2023. Scientists have warned that El Niño is predicted to return in 2023 causing extreme weather around the world. Typically El-Niño is associated with reduced rainfall and warmer temperatures. Early forecasts for 2023 suggest exacerbating extreme weather around the globe and making it “very likely” the world will exceed 1.5C of warming. Researchers predict that the El-Niño warming will be increased by 30% in combination with global warming.
How can we continue to produce crops that will yield sufficiently during a drought?
Besides a lack of irrigation water, it’s going to become a huge problem for a number of reasons:
A large majority of Agricultural soils hold/store very little moisture, oxygen, organic matter, soil carbon, etc.
A large majority of soils suffer from soil compaction / hardpan.
Loss of top-soil
Lack of soil structure
This situation affects about 70% of agricultural soils around the world, so another drought year preceded by a drought year is certainly going to negatively affect 2023 crops yields
Manmade agricultural chemicals are certainly not going to do anything to restore soil health seeing that they are actually at the basis of the current problem of poor soil health. The only way soils are going to be able to store sufficient water is by restoring soil health as quickly as possible.
Restoring soil health means:
Increasing soil organic matter content ideally to >5-6% or higher
Increasing soil carbon levels
Restoration of soil structure, eliminating soil compaction & hardpans
Restoration of top-soil
No ploughing & year round cover crops!
This will allow the soil micro- and macro-flora to restore soil structure, which will then allow the soil to store much more water, soil oxygen, soil carbon, increase levels of soil micro-organisms, etc… and this will all benefit the plant during a drought period.
Normally this takes a long time, i.e. several years! That’s time we no longer have, so we need to get creative.
SOIL HYPEROXYGENATION
Soil hyperoxygenation (i.e. extra soil oxygen) will help to speed this up. How do I know, because we have achieved incredible results during previous drought episodes.
Chilli’s: Bigger and 30% increase in yield
Papaya: 30% higher yield and significant increase in size of fruit
Onions: Treated vs untreated: Yield of treated onion field was 55 t/Ha compared to 35 t/Ha untreated
Strawberries: Yield increase of > 25% compared to untreated.
OTHER CROP RESULTS:
Sugar beet: Treated yielded 120 t/Ha, untreated 80t/Ha
Pasture: Grass grew 3 x faster and contained higher protein content. Dry matter of grass was also 10% higher than untreated grass.
Potatoes: Increase in yield of ±20% and even 100% as it rained heavily in some areas just prior to harvest (drought breaking rains). Untreated potatoes could not be harvested or yielded lower and smaller potatoes. Treated soils where able to be harvested.
Benefits are not limited to above mention crops. Hyperoxygenation will benefit all crops.
SOIL HYPEROXYGENATION
There are a number of benefits of soil hyperoxygenation. Furthermore its easy and cheap to apply and can certainly mean the difference between a good yield, a poor yield or even a failed yield, certainly in a drought year.
Our product is called LOXSOIL. It’s a highly stabilised source of liquid oxygen using only environment friendly ingredients which all break down to water and oxygen. It does not contain any heavy metals or silver which would have a significantly negative impact on the soil.
The reason it is highly stabilised is to ensure it has a slow release effect and can get to where it needs to - i.e. in the soil.
Application:
Drip irrigation dosed at 50 ml/1000 L water – preferably continual to prevent plant & soil hypoxia due to most irrigation water being oxygen poor.
Field spray dosed at 1 L per hectare – First application when plant emerges and repeated 4 times at 10 day intervals. Apply preferably just before rainfall.
WHAT DOES HYPEROXYGENATION DO:
Oxygation improves crop water use efficiency (WUE), producing more yield, whilst plant root development is greatly increased.
Loxsoil stimulates the activity and numbers of soil microorganisms. It has been shown that this can help to rapidly re-structure the soil, help to break-up hardpans, provide plants with more nutrients as well as protection against harmful pathogens.
Hyper-oxygenating irrigation water can lead to yield increase varying between 5-96% depending on the type of plants and growing conditions. All plants have a higher yield when oxygenated. Hyper-oxygenation has multiple cumulative benefits for plant growth and yield in normal years as well as under drought conditions.
Hyper-oxygenation has multiple cumulative benefits for plant growth and yield in normal years as well as under drought conditions.
References:
Impact of oxygation on soil respiration, yield and water use efficiency of three crop species.
Xinming Chen, Jay Dhungel, Surya P. Bhattarai, Manouchehr Torabi, Lance Pendergast, David J. Midmore
Journal of Plant Ecology, Volume 4, Issue 4, December 2011, Pages 236–248, Published: 06 December 2010
Oxygen in the root zone and its effect on plants
Moreno Roblero, Mario de Jesús1, Pineda Pineda, Joel2§, Colinas León, María Teresa1, Sahagún Castellanos, Jaime1
THE INFLUENCE OF SOIL AERATION ON THE EFFICIENCY OF VESICULAR-ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAS
II. EFFECT OF SOIL OXYGEN ON GROWTH AND MINERAL UPTAKE IN EUPA TORIUM ODOR A TUM L., SORGHUM BICOLOR (L.) MOENCH AND GUIZOTIA ABYSSINICA (L.f.) CASS. INOCULATED WITH VESICULAR-ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI
S. R. SAIF. First published: November 1983
Effects of different concentrations of dissolved oxygen on the growth, photosynthesis, yield and quality of greenhouse tomatoes and changes in soil microorganisms
Authors: Zan Ouyanga, Juncang Tian, Xinfang Yan, Hui Shen
Received 30 June 2020, Revised 30 September 2020, Accepted 4 October 2020, Available online 24 October 2020, Version of Record 2 January 2021.
Oxygen consumption by soil microorganisms as affected by oxygen and carbon dioxide levels
Authors: J.Sierraa, P.Renaultb
a Departamento de Suelos, Facultad de Agronomia, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1417 Buenos Aires, Argentina
b Unité de Science du Sol, lnstitut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Domaine Saint-Paul, B.P. 91, 84143 Montfavet Cedex, France
Accepted 28 January 1995.
The Role of Soil Microorganisms in Plant Mineral Nutrition—Current Knowledge and Future Directions
Richard Jacoby, Manuela Peukert, Antonella Succurro, Anna Koprivova and Stanislav Kopriva