Re: [compost_tea] EM leachate "tea"

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:03:47 EDT

As Titel sent to the list (thank you for the info!), the bacteria and yeasts
in EM are as follows:

Lactobacillus plantarum, L. casei, L. fermentum, L. salivarus,
L. bulgaricus{delbrueckii},
Saccharomyces cerevisiae,
Rhodopseudomonas palustris,
Rhodobacter sphaeroides, R. capsulatus

Lactobacilli are facultative anaerobes. They are not highly competitive with
aerobic organisms in fully aerobic conditions, but when the oxygen begins to
be used up by rapid growth of aerobes, then the aerobes are not as
competitive, and the facultative anaerobes can begin to win the day. Not until the
sugars or other simple food resources have been used up, and oxygen demand falls,
will the medium become aerobic again.

However, the lactic acid producing bacteria produce a range of organic acids
which are inhibitory to pathogenic facultative anaerobes like E. coli.

The lactic acid bacteria therefore do not become a large component of a fully
aerobic brew, although they are present, and could be detected if growth
conditions were appropriate for their reproduction. When we do testing with these
bacteria, we can usually tell, using direct microscopy, if they grow.

The yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, can grow over a range from aerobic to
fairly low oxygen concentrations. It typically produces alcohol, although the
concentration depends on the precise bio-type, or sub-species chosen to be
added in these cultures. So, I don't like the alcohol producing ability of this
additive to the mix.

So, there is more that needs to be done to understand what these bacteria and
yeasts do in different conditions, and how much they can be trusted to
prevent human pathogen growth in compost tea that goes into the low oxygen zone.
But perusal of EM reports suggest there's useful possibilities. I'd really like
to get together with EM researchers and scope this out.

Elaine R. Ingham
Soil Foodweb Inc., Corvallis, Oregon
Soil Foodweb Inc., Port Jefferson, New York
Soil Foodweb Institute, Lismore Australia
Soil Foodweb Institute Cambridge, New Zealand
Laboratorios de Soil Foodweb, Culiacan, Mexico
Soil Foodweb Inc., Jerome, Idaho
Soil Foodweb Inc., South Africa







Received on Fri Oct 22 2004 - 01:37:55 EDT

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