Re: [compost_tea] necessary to add carbs or sugar after applying a compost tea?

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2004 02:40:54 EST

Ah, let me explain the activity assay.

A leaf is held in FDA solution for the correct period of time,
 then observed using the epi-fluorescent microscope. Actively metabolizing
organisms will actively transport the stain into their cells, hydrolyze the
acetate from the fluorescein, and accumulate the fluorescein in the cells.

we know that aerobic bacteria will produce glue layers around their bodies,
and thus the area that they will cover. We can see the areas around the hyphae
as well, and so the organisms don't have to be "chock-a-block" stacked up to
each other.

After all, if you put 100 people in a phone booth, there is still space in
the booth, right? But we'd all agree that all the space is reasonably well
occupied. Right? Same with what we do for the leaf assay. The leaf is
reasonably well occupied at 100% coverage, about 70% coverage has some space empty, 50%
coverage has half empty spaces, etc.

We find that less than 70% coverage can be a problem. We want 5% of the leaf
covered with fungi, and 65% covered with bacteria. More is better.

OK?

Elaine

 

> Hello Mark,
>
> Please excuse my assumptions. The letter "codes" refer to B=bacteria,
> F=fungi, and tc=total coverage. This is in reference to a leaf bioassay
> in which a portion of the leaf is sprayed with a fluorescent stain, and
> living bacteria and fungi will take up this stain and glow under a
> epifluorescent light. It is a method used to examine living
> microorganisms. The numbers refer to the percent of leaf surface
> covered by F or B. Understand that this is not absolute % coverage. It
> actually refers to the number of squares on a grid that contain these
> glowing microorganisms.
>
> Please forgive me if this explanation is less than accurate.
>
> This is just my general understanding of the SFI leaf organism bioassay,
> and I'm sure Elaine could explain this much better than I have, but you
> should get the general idea.
>
> -Matt
>





Received on Sat Feb 14 2004 - 04:39:54 EST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:15:04 EST