Re:Technology enables crops to take nitrogen from the air
by bstpierre on Monday August 12, 2013 @09:06AM
(#6198947)
> they do OK in very nutrient poor soils
I generally agree with your comment, but I'd maybe say that "they can thrive in nitrogen-deficient soils". There are still other variables that affect the growth of nitrogen-fixers especially: soil pH; the quantity of other macro (and micro) nutrients like phosphorus, potassium, calcium, etc; and availability of water and sunlight.
Soybeans are a major crop that can fix nitrogen, but they may still need supplemental applications of phosphate, and the crop will die if not irrigated during a drought.
In other words: this is not a silver bullet that will magically make the problems of the world's crop-growers disappear overnight.
I generally agree with your comment, but I'd maybe say that "they can thrive in nitrogen-deficient soils". There are still other variables that affect the growth of nitrogen-fixers especially: soil pH; the quantity of other macro (and micro) nutrients like phosphorus, potassium, calcium, etc; and availability of water and sunlight.
Soybeans are a major crop that can fix nitrogen, but they may still need supplemental applications of phosphate, and the crop will die if not irrigated during a drought.
In other words: this is not a silver bullet that will magically make the problems of the world's crop-growers disappear overnight.