Assaying soil nutrients
An excellent and now standardised method is given in
Middleton KR and Toxopeus 1973 Diagnosis and measurement of multiple soil
deficiences by a subtractive technique. Plant and Soil 38 219-226
and a follow up paper Smith et al 1976 NZ Jl Exp Agric 4 423-427
These techniques use ryegrass growth to bioassya siol deficiencies and it
quantifies these very well/
. It lends itself to a very useful undergrad expt as it teachesa lot
about design replication stats as well as physiol, If students use their
own soils they get very useful info on nutritional deficiencies intheir own
patch.
good luck
Warwick Silvester
>To all,
> I'm looking for a standard procedure for testing the fertilizer
>value of a soil supplement derived from treated sewage biosolids. A local
>sewerage district is considering processing and marketing their product.
>One of the many questions they need to answer is what effect does it have
>on plant growth. Does anyone know of a standard set of conditions (plant
>species, soil type, watering regime, etc) that is used for this type of
>study? I can come up with my own design, but I'd hate to reinvent the
>wheel if I don't have to.
>>TIA
>>Bob
>>Dr. Robert R. Wise
>Department of Biology
>University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
>Oshkosh, WI 54901
>(920) 424-3404
>wise at uwosh.edu>http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/wise/wise.html
Warwick Silvester Ph. +64-7-838 4613 and voicemail
Dept of Biological Sciences Fax +64-7-838 4324
University of Waikato Email w.silvester at waikato.ac.nz
Hamilton, New Zealand
