Soil Nutrient Deficiencies Flashcards
What are the five soil-forming factors?
1) Parent material
2) Climate
3) Topography
4) Biological factors
5) Time
Soil Nutrient Deficiencies in an Area of Endemic Osteoarthritis and Dwarfism in Maputaland, South Africa
- Located in SE corner of Africa
- Warm, subtopical climate
- Avg summer 29C
- Avg winter 17C
- About 50km x 100km in size
Physiogeography of Maputaland
- Relatively flat, sandy, coastal plain
- Covered by Quaternary sands (2.5Ma to present)
- Coastal dunes reach almost 200m high, but avg elevation is 100m
- No rivers, but some lakes
Soil Type of Maputaland
Fernwood type:
- Sandy
- Yellow
- Inherently fertile
- Vary in pH from neutral to acidic
- Low organic matter content
Staple Foods of Maputaland
- Locally grown corn, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and beans
- No fertilizer input except cattle manure
- Area is extremely poor $ (not much meat in diet)
- Very little food is store-bought
Mseleni Joint Disease (MJD)
- Rare disease that begins with stiffness and pain in joints (mainly hips)
- Progress to various degrees of disability, some requiring aid in walking and others completely immobile
- 3% of adults are dwarfs (SIR is 0.0025%)
- 38% of women have MJD
- 11% of men have MJD
Causes: possible Zn deficiency as a cause for dwarfism
Possible P, Ca, and Mg deficiencies as a cause for bone disorders
MJD: A Potential Model of Epigenetic Chondrodysplasia
- More prominent in females, many factors could account for this
- Traditional activities of women: cultivation of crops, collection of wild food plants and water, child and home care
- Men: migratory laborers in towns and cities (usually live and work away from home, only around for holidays)
- Difficult to asses severity of MJD in men, it seems that by leaving they are less affected by the disease and are escaping some environmental cause
Socio-economic Impact of MJD
- Debilitating disease that makes daily chores difficult or impossible, depending on the severity of the condition
- Each family group is a self-supporting unit relying on the land for subsistence
- MJD sufferers rely on assistance of others in order to survive and often their children or other young relatives bear the burden = young ppl rarely attend school, in the long run affecting the whole community
Study of MJD and Soil Nutrient Deficiencies in Maputaland
Study:
- Topsoil samples (0-25cm deep) were collected at 1km intervals across 34km of Maputaland
- Corn growth in soil was also tested
Results:
- Cu and Zn were extremely deficient across the entire transect
- P, K, Ca were deficient
- Mn and B were borderline
- Mg and Fe were not deficient on average, but were very deficient in some samples
Overall finding:
- Cu and Zn deficiencies across the entire transect, pockets of multiple deficiencies throughout (agrees with previous studies of area)
- No relation b/w topographic features and soil deficiencies.
- Corn deficiencies reflected those of the soil.
Ceruti et al. state that the food grown on soils in Maputaland is likely to be of inferior nutritional quality
More work is needed to examine the spatial relation between pockets of multiple soil deficiencies and MJD
What does the term “hidden hunger” refer to?
When a diet lack micronutrients such as Vitamin A, iodine, Zn, Fe, etc.
How many people in the world suffer from hidden hunger?
~2 billion
Most of the world’s undernourished people are found in:
- Southern and Eastern Asia
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Latin America and Caribbean
What are the only elements that plants can get from the atmosphere?
Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
Five ways to boost soil fertility are:
- Crop rotation and diversification
- Increase soil organic matter content
- Keep soil surface covered
- Reduce erosion
-Minimize tillage
