Soil conditioners: micro-organisms

Soil micro-organisms are a general term for the bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes and algae that live in the soil and are an essential part of it.

These micro-organisms, which are too small to be seen by the naked eye, are at the heart of the biological fertility of the soil and are important "regulators" of soil life.

Micro-organisms play two main roles.

On the one hand, they are the 'cooks' of the soil, whose vital activities increase the supply of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the soil, helping crops to absorb them smoothly and converting some substances in the soil that cannot be directly used by crops into a usable state.

On the other hand, they are also the 'doctors' of the soil, 'detoxifying' and 'health care' for the soil, regulating and maintaining the healthy quality of the soil, and ultimately achieving sustainable productivity of the soil The soil's health is regulated and maintained, ultimately leading to sustainable productivity. It is thanks to them that the soil has a soul.

Of course, there are good and bad soil micro-organisms for agricultural development, and those that act as 'cooks' and 'doctors' are generally the ones that are good for agriculture. If the good micro-organisms in the soil are defeated by the bad micro-organisms, then the soil loses its ability to regulate itself and becomes sick.

An important basis for determining soil disease is to see if soil-borne diseases are present. We now know that there are two broad types of crop disease - airborne diseases and soilborne diseases. Once the soil is sick, diseases and insects will appear and the crops planted in the ground will become sick or even die.

The decline in the quality of arable land is closely linked to the decline in beneficial micro-organisms

Over the past 30 years, China has used 9% of the world's arable land to successfully solve the problem of feeding 1.3 billion people, who account for 20% of the world's total population, and the rice bowl of the Chinese people is firmly in their hands. However, in recent years, the problem of declining soil fertility has also started to become increasingly apparent.

Soil fertility has declined for three main reasons.

Firstly, the small amount of arable land available in China, the high replanting index of the land and the high intensity of soil use have left it without recuperation.

Secondly, for a long time, China has practised heavy crop cultivation, which tends to breed pests and diseases, making soil-borne diseases increasingly widespread and aggravated.

Thirdly, the long-term unscientific application of chemical fertilisers and pesticides has led to an increasing accumulation of various toxic and harmful substances in the soil, with some pesticide residues even entering water bodies and the food chain, and causing potential food safety hazards.

Like people, cultivated land needs rest. If you cultivate the land without nourishing it, the land will naturally get sick. In recent years, the unreasonable application of chemical fertilisers and pesticides has made our soil more and more barren, losing the 'fertile, live and healthy' nature of arable land, and posing a challenge to the ecological environment and the quality and safety of agricultural products. The decline in the quality of arable land is not unrelated to the reduction of the useful soil microflora in it.

A high fertility soil must have a good granular structure, for crops to regulate the appropriate water, fertilizer, gas and heat, for crops to transform, preserve and continue to provide the required nutrients, which plays a role is the role of the micro-organisms living in the soil, hundreds of millions of dollars per gram of soil.

Nowadays, we mostly use chemical fertilisers for farming and less organic fertilisers. Organic fertilisers are actually nutrients for the micro-organisms in the soil, and with less organic fertilisers, the soil loses organic matter and there are fewer micro-organisms, while the micro-organisms with more chemical requirements become more abundant, thus forming a vicious circle and the fertility of the soil becomes worse and worse. If the situation is not improved, it will get worse.