permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Tannins' Surprising Benefits for Soils, Forests and Farms
Date:   Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:02:52 -0500
From:   ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Reply-To:       ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
To:     ARS News subscriber <lflj@bellsouth.net>



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ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
--View this report online, plus photos and related stories, at 
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr
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*Read the magazine story 
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/Nov10/tannins1110.htm> to find out 
more.*

Photo: Sheep grazing in a pasture of thinned forest. Link to photo information
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/nov10/d1978-1.htm>
ARS scientists are developing recommendations for using tannins—like those in 
red wine—to manage agricultural soils,
including those where livestock graze in thinned forests. /Click the image 
for more information about it./


For further reading

    * Springtime sheep grazing helps control leafy spurge 
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2009/090929.htm>
    * New bacterial species named after ARS scientist 
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2009/090305.htm>
    * Forest-friendly ways to get more from pine 
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2006/060707.htm>


    Tannins' Surprising Benefits for Soils, Forests and Farms

By Don Comis </is/contacts.htm#Don>
November 17, 2010

The tannins that help make good red wine and bright fall colors also may help 
make good soil and healthy livestock,
according to U.S. Department of Agriculture 
<http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome> (USDA) researchers.

Chemist Javier Gonzalez 
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=32665> and soil 
scientist Jonathan
Halvorson <http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=13151>, 
both at the Agricultural Research Service
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/main.htm> (ARS) Appalachian Farming Systems 
Research Center
<http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=19-32-00-00> (AFSRC) in 
Beaver, W.Va., are leading a tannin
research project that's now in its fourth year. Results from the studies by 
Gonzalez, Halvorson and their colleagues
indicate tannins are important components of agroecosystems that can also 
affect production and environmental quality.
ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.

The scientists will use their results to develop recommendations for using 
tannins to manage soils and silvopastures,
where livestock graze in thinned forests.

Tannins and other phenolic compounds are common in many plants. These 
compounds, believed to enter soil from plant roots
and decaying leaves, may also be part of "teas" formed as rain and snowmelt 
run down tree bark and drip off the leaves.

The work is being done jointly with chemist Ann Hagerman
<http://chemistry.muohio.edu/index.php/faculty/11-faculty/20-ann-e-hagerman>'s
 renowned tannin laboratory at Miami
University <http://www.miami.muohio.edu/> in Oxford, Ohio. The two labs are 
combining their capabilities to identify
important features of tannins that determine soil interactions.

Results to date show the rate and amount of binding to soil varied from one 
tannin to another. The scientists found that
the binding quality of tannins also can be used to immobilize metals such as 
aluminum, lessening the metals' toxic
effects on root growth. Tannin-related phenolics can also free up nutrients 
such as calcium for crop use.

The scientists are learning more about how forest soil microbes metabolize 
tannins, leading to a better understanding of
the varied ecological functions performed by tannins. The AFSRC scientists 
also are studying the nutritional and
deworming potential of tannin-containing forages for goats.

Read more <http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov10/tannins1110.htm> about 
this research in the November/December
2010 issue of /Agricultural Research/ magazine.

This research was published in /Physiologia Plantarum/ 
<http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0031-9317>,
and in /Soil Biology & Biochemistry 
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00380717>/.

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