Soil microbial biomass (MB) as estimated by microBIOMETER® has shown that it can measure soil health better than 6 of the popular soil health panels, or the PLFA and Haney respiration test (microBIOMETER® correlates r=0.96 with digitized microscopy estimation of MB). This indicates that MB provides information about soil health, not provided in these health panels. Since MB is low when physical characteristics of soil are poor, pH is low, and toxins are present, it would appear that the discrepancies between MB and soil health panels could be in the chemical analysis component of the panels. A possible explanation is that MB is an indicator of the bioavailability of soil nutrients and that this is not reflected by chemical analysis. We are looking to collaborate with researchers who could help us understand this phenomenon.
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