>Dear List members. > >I wonder if anyone of you would have some handy >reference showing that plants do exudate protein >as stated in Dr Ingham CD material and many lectures >that I have seen. >I have been questioned by a researcher down here and >standing at Dr Ingham�s side have put my reputation at >stake since this questioning was done in the middle of >a lecture I was doing for a group of organic growers. > >I thank in advance any help I can get > >Regards > > >Jose Luiz
Dear Jose, At a workshop I attended in Australia by Ward Penwarn ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) he presented a fairly comprehensive list from what appeared to be a highly authoritative source of what root exudates were known to be made up of. Maybe you could contact him. I'm sure he knows Elaine. Proteins definitely figured importantly in the list, which included virtually everything from simple sugars and polysaccarides to complex allelopathic chemicals. Dr. Ingham likes to refer to this as "carbon shedding" at the roots since the mix is so complex. I often refer to giving off sugars at the roots, since the sugars figure importantly in feeding the soil food web, but that is for simplicity of speech. The picture is really far more complex. And for each species of plant it is different--unique. So each plant feeds a different complex of soil food web organisms, due to the differences in the mix of root exudates. This is one of the important reasons we need far more diversity in our cropping schemes and in our crop rotations. I find, for instance, that market gardening in 40 inch wide beds with grassy/clover paths surrounding the beds ups my diversity of plants many fold and does wonderous things for the land. But you can figure that a plant's root exudates are a form of excreta and normally any species avoids its own excreta after a while. Best, Hugh Visit our website at: www.unionag.org
