Bottom cooking
As tilth in agriculture in the ideal state is called a fertile soil, which means that the "optimal physical, chemical and biological condition of the topsoil is achieved."
term
A well-cooked soil is crumbly, humus , well ventilated, sufficiently moist and easily rootable. It is characterized by a stable, resilient structure and can be recognized with the spade diagnosis . Like a “fermenting” bread dough, a cooked floor contains many small and medium-sized cavities, the so-called floor pores , which are used for air flow and water storage. Like a sponge, this floor can e.g. B. Soak up precipitation and divert excess into the groundwater.
Such an optimal soil structure is called a crumb structure . The organisms living in the soil ( bacteria , worms , insects and other small and microorganisms ) that affect the microclimate of the soil depend on a good exchange of air. The crumb structure is therefore a prerequisite for the existence of a species- and individual-rich organism population. The crumb structure and thus the bottom cooking as a result of incorrect processing, z. B. compacting with heavy equipment, constant walking or destroyed by heavy rainfall.
To produce and maintain the bottom cooking, the following is necessary:
- physical: the crumb structure d. H. medium-sized pores throughout the root area, water, warmth
- chemical: nutrient salts, minerals and trace elements, neutral pH value
- biological: the organisms living in the soil (see above)
species
A distinction is made between the frost fermentation , which occurs in winter through the alternation of frost and thawing, and the shadow fermentation which occurs in the course of the summer half of the year through the covering of the soil such as B. arises through mulching and can be promoted through arable farming measures such as no-till .
Targeted measures
The biological organisms living in the soil can only be influenced by the physical and chemical conditions. Measures to maintain and produce the bottom cooker therefore affect these 2 areas. Mainly physical part:
- Loosening or pressing down
- irrigation
- Mulching
The aim of the physical measures is to provide water and air for soil fauna and flora . Mulch protects against drying out and erosion, among other things. There are also the following chemical methods:
- the supply of organic fertilizers , especially compost and plant manure
- Green manure , renewable green fallow
- Crop rotation , mixed culture
- the supply of clay minerals , rock flour , carbonate of lime or sand
Since the unbound nutrients are washed out into deeper layers by irrigation and the nutrients are removed by harvesting and mowing , they have to be constantly replaced from the cultivated soil. The aim of the chemical measures is to create or maintain a high proportion of permanent humus in the soil. It can bind and provide the mineral and organic nutrients. Permanent humus is created with the help of soil animals and microorganisms from woody, difficult to degrade plant parts.
Web links
- bodenwelten.de : Agriculture that protects the soil.
literature
- Ernst Klapp : Textbook of arable and crop production . Publisher Paul Parey Berlin 1941; 2nd edition 1944; 3rd edition 1951; 4th edition 1954; 5th edition 1958; 6th edition 1967.
- Karl-Heinrich Hartge : Introduction to Soil Physics. Enke, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-432-89681-6 , p. 90.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frank Uekötter: The truth is in the field. A history of knowledge of German agriculture. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010, p. 316.
- ↑ Alwin Seifert: Gardening, plowing - without poison. Biederstein-Verlag, Munich 1997.
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↑ The soil - living earth, thirty centimeters from which we live Section Green manure and mineral salt supply, Organization BIOkybernetisches Zentrum Aachen.
Eggshells are also made of carbonate of lime ( calcium carbonate ) - ↑ The Mulch Book: practice of land cover in the garden / Dettmer Grünefeld, 2010, ISBN 9783895662188 .