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Smelling soil: electronic nose to help manage farms
Georgia Fryer
A new prototype is being developed to ‘smell’ soil and turn gas emissions into microbial health metrics.
The Soil CRC is working with a team of researchers from the University of Tasmania to build a prototype eNose (electronic nose) for soil to determine its microbial community.
Funded by the Australian government and 40 participants, the Soil CRC is a cooperative research centre that brings together scientists, industry and farmers to find practical solutions for Australia’s underperforming soils
The physical structure and chemical nutrients of soil determine what organisms live within it. These organisms make up a ‘microbial community’ which changes the soils’ structure and chemical components.
According to Dr Robert Hardy from the University of Tasmania, each community releases a different kind of gas which reflects what the organisms are doing in the soil.
“The eNose aims to test the ‘proof-of-life concept’ that we can sense changes in the ground by smelling the gases these communities release,” he explained.
The prototype will use low-cost gas sensors, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitric oxide, to smell the soil which is then translated into microbial health metrics. The tool will also use basic environmental monitoring capability including DNA sequencing and soil moisture.
“Currently, there are very few rapid and cost effective in-field techniques available to assess and monitor the health of soil microbial communities,” said Dr Shane Powell, University of Tasmania and eNose Project Leader.
This technology will be made available to farmers who will be able to use this information to make decisions on how best to manage their soils to be healthier, more productive and more resilient, according to Soil CRC.
The team are working with Birchip Cropping Group, FarmLink, Southern Farming System and Soils for Life to understand what farmers need and want from the eNose, Hardy explained.
Hardy told One Mandate Group that they are also talking to farmers about how to breakdown the data to make it a useful and usable product. To ensure the data is simple, Soil CRC are running additional projects to test the presentation of complex information.
Once the prototype is complete farmers from these groups will begin testing the technology in real-time.
Whilst the prototype phase will end in nine months, funding will determine how long until the technology is available to all farmers.
Even with additional funding, Hardy said the low-cost of the technology poses a problem as they are restricted to a low-budget design.
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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