Soils provide the foundation for productive and sustainable farming systems. Soils provide an anchor for crop plants, slowly release essential nutrients needed to sustain plant growth and productivity and hold onto and release precious water that plants need to thrive. Healthy soils also support an abundant and diverse set of organisms that play critical roles in making nutrients available for plant uptake, helping plants fight insect pests and diseases, and protecting them from drought and other stresses. Over time, soils can become degraded due to a wide range of factors. They can also become contaminated with toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and cadmium, which can harm plants as well as people.
In October, members of the Nexus ‘Organic Farming Systems (OFS)’ Project delivered detailed soil test reports for 39 farm fields in the Colca Valley. The soils were collected as part of an effort by the OFS team to identify the most critical challenges facing farmers in this region and develop effective solutions. The soil test report provided important details that farmers can use now to improve the health of their soils and crops. For example, many farm fields contained excessive levels of nutrients like phosphorous, which can reduce the uptake of other critical nutrients and prevent plants from forming mutualistic relationships with beneficial soil microbes. Some farm fields also had pH levels that were below optimum, which will prevent plants from being able to access some important nutrients and make them more susceptible to toxic heavy metals. In these cases, farmers were provided with recommendations on how to address these challenges. Researchers on the team also used the results of this soil survey to design on-farm research trials aimed at improving soil health, which will help all farmers in this important agricultural ecosystem.
Special thanks to the students at UNSA and Purdue who helped collect and test the soils and prepare the soil health test reports. Angie Pamela Jarecca Flores, Cristian Salinas, Henrique Feiler, Jamil Harol Taco Riveros, Jean Pierre Santiago Mendoza Mogrovejo, Karin Sharon Quicaña Maquerhua, Lily Berry, and Mińe van der Berg.
Source : purdue.edu