Final Update: I've been in contact with the USDA & A&M's Ag Extension and they are in the process of combing through a recent soil survey to find soil that meets my specific needs. I ended up coming to that conclusion separately, but good thinking, Dr. Beauchamp.
I'm looking for soil that is deficient in zinc, but I'm not sure where to find it. If there is a source to purchase consistently composed soil, that would be ideal, but if not, I'm willing to harvest it myself.
I live in College Station, TX, so somewhere within a couple hours' drive would be suitable. Thanks.
Update: Thank you all for the answers.
Marcelo De Siervi: I will keep that composition information in mind. I have soil survey information for my area, and I believe there is some soil that fits that description.
Amant Ali & Vico Mendes Pereira Lima: That's good to know about the soils in Pakistan and Brazil. Unfortunately, I don't know of anyone who has access to that material, and it would likely be difficult to acquire in the quantity I'm looking to use.
Dr. Huang: Thank you so much for your kind offer of assistance! Unfortunately, time, distance, and cost make collecting soil from China infeasible for the work I'm doing.
As an aside, I'm only a PhD student, so you don't need to address me as "Dr. Finley", but I appreciate the courtesy.
Dear Dr. Finley: The Zinc deficient soils are most commonly developed over sandy sediments, as the vast majority of the clay minerals as illite or montmorillonite (except the kaolinite) have large concentrations of Zn (counting all of the geochemical fractions), and likewise if you are interested in the bioavailable fraction. Best regards.
As for Zn deficiency, 70-80 % of Pakistan Soils are deficient in Zn you can ask anyone for that
Dear Dr. Finley,
There are too many soil types deficient in Zinc around the world, especially for the available species. So, please specify your needs. If possible, we can lend you hands on collecting some samples in China, with your detailed requirements.
Regards,
Ping
Hello Cameron,
As most students, you should first do a literature review. You will find paper like:
Lee Tarpley, Texas A&M Univ. System, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, 1509 Aggie Dr., Beaumont, TX 77713
Look at: doi:10.2135/cropsci2013.10.0656 (open access)
or
Calvin L. Trostle Texas A&M Univ. Research & Extension Center, Route 3, Box 213AA, Lubbock, TX 79403
Look at: doi:10.2136/sssaj2001.652385x for a method with hydroponic nutrient solution
or
Not too far away:
Bruce W. Wood
U.S. Department ofAgriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Southeastern
Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory, 21 Dunbar Road, Byron, GA, 31008-0087
Look at: http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=16075&content=PDF
From a practical point of view, the easiest is to ask your USDA office. See their site for soil information
(http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/soils/survey/office/ssr9/)
and contact them.
Good luck,
I wanted to remind you that you should be aware when harvesting soils to watch out for anthropogenic air deposited zinc contaminating the surface soil. Smokestack industries , like metal smelters, coal fired plants and such may have made historical deposits that are not being actively deposited today, but will have made their impact. Biosolids and manured soils will also have high levels of zinc, so some history of land use will be helpful to avoid these.
I suppose you have avoided the usual route of inert sand and hydroponic nutrient for reasons of the research that are focusing on microbial aspects of soil, and zinc deficiency. Would it make sense to use a citrate leach of your soil, to exhaust its store of zinc,( making sure to do a digest of spent soil and analysis, and also analyze the other nutrients dragged out with the leach)? This soil could be heaped to allow it to aerobically mineralize the citrate, and then refertilized to make it the desired nutrient level, with Zn ( +) and Zn (-) versions.
About 52% of Indian Soils at present are Zn deficient. The details including the Zn deficient soil map you will get from National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning ( NBSS&LUP) , Amravati road, Shankar nagar, Nagpur 440033, Maharashtra, India.
If you could find calcareous soils or soils with pH values, they are always Zinc deficient. Soil of the arid climate are alo mostly Zn deficient.
Best regards
Fiaz
Zinc deficiency occurs on soils with a neutral-alkaline reaction, with native low zinc (e.g. below1.5 mg.Kg-1 zinc soluble in a solution of EDTA-ammonum carbonate, as Trierweiler and Lindsay, 1969) and with a high phosphorus content. These indicators can be integrated in a formula of Zn deficency index ZnDI=Zn.RF.100/PAL, where Zn is determinate after Trierweiler and Lindsay method, RF is reaction factor and PAL is P soluble in solution of ammonum acetat-lactat after Egner-Rhiem-Domingo,1960). The values of this index less than 3.4 indicates that these soils have a high probability of having Zn deficiency.
Zn -deficiency is most common of all micronutrient deficiencies , but under conditions , it is difficult to get soil which is deficient of Zn only. some good points have been explained by Lacatusu, i agree with him..
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Agriculture
- Soil Science