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8 THE;.RURAL VOICE
Scrap Book
System maps soil electrical conductivity
"There is always a strong
relationship between crop yield,
topography and soil electrical
conductivity (EC)," says Paul
Drummond of Veris Technologies.
"But electrical conductivity has been
missing from a farmer's soil manage-
ment kit, unless he's near a university
with access to expensive research
equipment. Soil scientists have known
for years that EC data is valuable, but
until recently there was no practical
way to use it at the farm level."
That's why his company, based in
Salina, Kansas developed an
affordable EC measuring machine
capable of field speed and field -scale
acreages. The Veris Soil Mapping
System uses a pair of coulter
electrodes to transmit an electrical
current into the soil. Mounted to the
same frame, but electrically insulated,
are four more electrode coulters that
receive the electricity and measure the
voltage drop. The two closest
receivers measure EC at the surface to
one -foot depth while the coulters at
the far ends of the eight -foot -wide
frame measure EC to the three foot
depth. Retail price, which includes full
GPS compatibility for field mapping,
is $11,000 U.S.
"Electrical conductivity tells us
what's happening two or three feet
below the surface," Drummond says.
"It shows hidden salinity, Layers of
sand that drain away water without
our knowing it, or layers of clay that
saturate roots when we think it's dry
on the surface."
While stressing that topography is
vital to field management, Drummond
says it presents only part of the
picture.
"As you run this machine over your
fields, you get a measurement of EC
and soil texture at the surface and
three foot depth. You find times when
the soil three feet down is not what
you expect and that may be more
important to your management plan
than the soil you see on the surface."
Without drilling hundreds of test holes
a farmer has no other way to docu-
ment sub -surface factors, Drummond
said.0
— Source: Farming Magazine
supplement to Western Producer
Biotech pig could grow 40% faster
Medical researchers using gene
therapy have figured out a way to
make young pigs grow 40 per cent
larger and faster.
Scientists say the technique, which
stimulates production of the pigs'
growth hormones, would be a boon for
livestock farmers and eventually could
even be used to treat children with
growth problems and to prevent
muscle deterioration in AIDS and
cancer patients.
"We think that over the long term
this is going to be a defining
technology that will change the face of
how agriculture is done," said lead
scientist, Robert J. Schwartz, a
professor of molecular and cellular
biology at Baylor College of Medicine
in Houston.
The results reported by Schwartz's
team, which were reported in the
December issue of Nature
Biotechnology, are especially
dramatic. All improvements made in
hog production over the past two
decades have pigs maturing 10 per
cent faster than they used to.
The key to the new technology is a
synthetic chemical that's inserted into
a biodegradable piece of DNA, then
injected into the leg of a two -week-old
pig. The chemical in turn causes the
pig's pituitary gland to secrete higher
than normal levels of growth hormone.
Two months after the injection,
treated pigs weighed 42 kilograms,
compared with 29 kilograms for an
untreated hog. The treated pigs ate 25
per cent less feed, which would
amount to huge savings for the farmer,
and they are ready for market two
weeks earlier, Schwartz said.
The pigs are also expected to
produce less manure, Schwartz said.
Extra research will have to be done
to show the meat is safe for human
consumption and the treatment has no
negative long-term impact on animals.0
— Source: Associated Press