Title: Historical Perspectives of Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition Speaker: Bill Pan

online.wsu.edu

UNIT 1, LESSON 6

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

OF SOIL FERTILITY AND PLANT

NUTRITION

Q: Why study this history?

A: A glimpse at the past

enables us to better

understand where we are

today, and where we are

headed in the future.`

THE DEVELOPMENT OF APPLIED AND

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF SOIL

FERTILITY PARALLELED THE

EVOLUTION OF GREAT WORLD

CIVILIZATIONS

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

2500B.C. - writings acknowledge awareness of soil fertility in Mesopotamia, linked to periodic flooding of soil.

Some areas able to grow crops better than others.

SOIL TESTS OF THE

ANCIENT GREEKS

Taste: acidity and salinity

Feel: texture

Color: does darkness indicate

better fertility?

ANCIENT GREEK, ROMAN, CHINESE

CIVILIZATIONS RECOGNIZED THE

IMPORTANCE OF SOIL AMENDMENTS:

Animal manure

Dead bodies and blood

Green manure crops

Marls and limestones

Wood ashes

Saltpeter

EARLY RECOGNITION OF

CROP RESPONSES TO

MANURING

The father of Odysseus in Homer’s, The

Odyssey (800 B.C.) manured his

vineyards.

Theophrastus (300 B.C.): Manure thin

soils, use sparingly on rich soils.

Gardens of Athens, Greece were treated

with city sewage through canals.

OR, CHANGING THE SEASON, YOU WILL SOW THERE

YELLOW WHEAT, WHENCE BEFORE YOU HAVE TAKEN

UP THE JOYFUL PULSE, WITH RUSTLING PODS, OR

THE VETCH’S SLENDER OFFFSPRING AND THE

BITTER LUPINE’S BRITTLE STALKS

-VIRGIL, 70-19 B.C.

Value of crop rotation

I SOMETIME THINK THAT NEVER BLOWS SO

RED

THE ROSE AS WHERE SOME BURIED CAESAR

BLED

- OMAR KHAYYAM, 11TH CENTURY

Application of blood

to soil was even

recognized in the

Old Testament

HAND-APPLICATION OF

COMPOST IN CHINA

Farming-Fertilizers, featured on the History Channel show,

Modern Marvels http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/videos/three-things-you-didnt-know-about-

fertilizer#three-things-you-didnt-know-about-fertilizer

EARLY MINERAL AMENDMENTS

Romans recognized that the effects of

lime applications were sustained for

several decades.

Ashes from wood and crop residues

were recommended to enrich the soil.

Fertilizing with saltpeter is mentioned

in the Bible.

RENAISSANCE ERA: TRANSITION FROM

MEDIEVAL ALCHEMY TO MODERN SCIENCE

(1400-1700)

Discovery of the Americas

van Helmont: one of first quantitative experiments in plant nutrition

Boyle: analyzed plant samples for salts

Glauber: identified salterpeter in manure (1st cycle)

Other experimenters:

Woodward, Young, Hale

GUANO HARVESTING OFF THE COAST OF PERU

AND SHIPMENT TO EUROPE REPRESENTED SOME

OF THE FIRST WORLDWIDE MARKETING OF

FERTILIZER (GLOBAL NUTRIENT CYCLING)

See Modern Day Bat Guano Mining :

http://www.youtube.com/user/cavemansbatguano

CHILEAN NITRATE

First mined from Atacama Desert in

N. Chile

Crude mineral deposits from ancient

lake 10-15 million years ago

N theoretically generated from N

fixation

VAN HELMONT

FLEMISH CHEMIST, 1577-1644

Asked the question:

Where do plants get

their mass from?

Weighed 200 lb soil in

closed container.

Added only water to

willow shoot for 5

years.

Willow gained 165 lbs.

ROBERT BOYLE

ENGLISH CHEMIST, 1600’S

Most well noted for his definition

of the pressure-volume

relationship: PxV=k

Determined the following

components in plant matter: salts,

spirits, earth and oil

Also thought that these were

formed from water.

J. R. GLAUBER

(GERMAN CHEMIST, 1600’S)

Identified saltpeter (KNO3) as

the “principle of vegetation”, the

real valued component of soils

and manure for growing plants

Recognized the cycling of this salt

through plants-animals-soil.

ESTABLISHMENT OF MODERN CHEMICAL

PRINCIPLES

(1700-1800’S) Priestley, Lavoisier

discovery of O

deSaussure: gas

exchange in plants;

ash minerals

derived from soil

EARLY FARM RESEARCH

Boussingault: field research on nutrient

balance

Sprengel, von Liebig: Law of the Minimum

Rothamsted, U. S. land grant institutions

(like WSU!) were first sites of state

sponsored agronomic research.

Mitscherlich: Law of Diminishing Returns

Hellriegal and Wilfarth: N fixation by

bacteria in nodules of legumes

LAW OF MINIMUM: CROP YIELDS ARE

IN PROPORTION TO THE MOST LIMITING

OF GROWTH FACTORS

Popularized by

Justus von Liebig (1800’s)

MITCHERLICH’S LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURN:

INCREMENTAL INCREASES IN YIELD IN RESPONSE

TO A NUTRIENT DIMINISHES AS THE AVAILABILITY OF

THAT NUTRIENT INCREASES.

Y=Yield

X=Nutrient Supply

(Y)

Y = A(1-10 ) -cx

INORGANIC PHOSPHORUS AND POTASSIUM

FERTILIZERS WERE BEING UTILIZED BY THE

LATE 1800’S, AS WELL AS ORGANIC SOURCES

OF THESE NUTRIENTS.

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/

“Soon only bleaching bones were left on the

prairie. For several years these towns did a

thriving business in buffalo bones which were

shipped east to be converted into fertilizer. As

the great buffalo herds were destroyed,

domestic cattle began to take their place on the

vast open range. “

JOHN MAPES, FATHER OF THE

AMERICAN FERTILIZER INDUSTRY

1851: Built the first phosphate fertilizer

plant on Long Island, NY

By 1890, US produced 90% of the P

fertilizer.

Currently, US produces ~30%, as does

China

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS FOR

PLANT GROWTH

N

P

K

Ca

Mg

S

Macronutrients: Typical tissue concentrations = 0.1%-5% of d. m.

1% = 0.01g/g dm

THE ESSENTIAL MICRONUTRIENTS HAVE BEEN

IDENTIFIED OVER THE PAST 150 YEARS.

Micronutrients Typical tissue concentrations 1 - 100 ppm 1ppm =1mg/kg

Fe

Mn

Cu

Zn

B

Mo

Cl

Ni

ADDITIONAL BENEFICIAL ELEMENTS

MINERAL ELEMENTS WHICH AMELIORATE TOXIC

EFFECTS OF OTHER ELEMENTS, OR WHICH

REPLACE MINERAL NUTRIENTS IN SOME OF THEIR

LESS SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS

Co

Si

Na

TOXIC ELEMENTS: ELEMENTS THAT

INTERFERE WITH NORMAL METABOLISM,

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Al

Hg

Pb

Cd

Na

B

Mn

Some are naturally occurring at

toxic levels, some have been

concentrated by human

activities

ADVENT OF PROCESSED N FERTILIZERS (1900’S)

REVOLUTIONIZED CROP PRODUCTION

Haber-Bosch process

was discovered

Refined fertilizers

Crop genetic

improvements

Unprecedented yield

increases

CHEMICAL SOIL AND PLANT

TESTING

Quantifying nutrient availability

Predicting nutrient needs

SYNTHETIC N FERTILIZER USE ON WHEAT IN

THE PALOUSE

1940 1960 1980 19900

20

40

60

80

100

120

1940 1960 1980 1990

lb N/A

GRAIN YIELD IN GENETICALLY IMPROVED

VARIETIES (BU/AC)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1932-39 1940-47 1948-55 1956-63 1964-71 1972-79 1980-87

Kharkof (control)

Improved VarietiesPendleton Agricultural

Research Center Soft white winter wheat,

wheat/fallow rotation

GRAIN YIELD IMPROVEMENT WITH NITROGEN

FERTILIZATION (BU/AC)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1932-39 1940-47 1948-55 1956-63 1964-71 1972-79 1980-87

No Added Nitrogen

Nitrogen Fertilized

Pendleton Agricultural

Research Center

Soft white winter wheat,

wheat/fallow rotation

ENVIRONMENTAL BACKLASH

Water quality

problems

Questions about soil

quality

Ag emissions

reduces air quality,

promotes global

warming

A satellite image of

increased water turbidity

due to eutrophication of

the north Caspian Sea

ORGANIC FARMING MOVEMENT

Back to nature

On farm resources, tighten the nutrient cycles,

local food supplies

Health, safety issues concerning use of

agrichemicals and GM crops

Issues of scale in being able to produce adequate

food for growing global and urbanizing

population

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT

REGULATIONS

Require nutrient

management plans

Require soil testing

Limit nutrient inputs, timing

WORLD POPULATION

US FARMLAND

INCREASING SOCIETAL DEMANDS ON FARMS WILL PLACE

MORE PRESSURE ON INCREASED BIOMASS PRODUCTION AND

NUTRIENT INPUTS

Food

Feed (animal)

Fiber

Fuel

Fauna (soil)

THE CHALLENGES OF THE FUTURE WILL BE TO

BALANCE PRODUCTION IN CONCERT WITH

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION