Breaking The Acid Barrier
The acidity present in the subsoil of many upland areas prevents plant roots from reaching the moisture and nutrients therein, thus reducing crop yield. Adding lime to the subsoil is not practical, but in 1994 IRRI and Indonesian scientists began experiments to see if components of lime applied to the soil surface could be leached down into the subsoil. This would be done by manipulating soil chemistry and using deep-rooted, acid-tolerant rice cultivars to help capture the leached components.
At present they are studying the processes that govern the rate of leaching of lime components and their accumulation in the subsoil. They plan then to construct mathematical models that will be used to develop practical technologies and to indicate under what conditions the technologies might be effective.
The experiments began at the Upland Rice Research Consortium site at Sitiung, Indonesia. French collaborators from l'Institut francais de recherche scientifique pour le developpement en cooperation are planning similar experiments in Thailand and Vietnam.
Read more about this topic: Upland Rice
Famous quotes containing the words breaking the, breaking and/or barrier:
“There’s kind of a Sleeping Beauty magic about the kid. I thought I’d done something toward breaking the spell. Seems not. Prince Charmless, that’s me.”
—Dodie Smith, and Lewis Allen. Roderick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland)
“To have the fear of God before our eyes, and, in our mutual dealings with each other, to govern our actions by the eternal measures of right and wrong:MThe first of these will comprehend the duties of religion;Mthe second, those of morality, which are so inseparably connected together, that you cannot divide these two tables ... without breaking and mutually destroying them both.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“Whatever may be our just grievances in the southern states, it is fitting that we acknowledge that, considering their poverty and past relationship to the Negro race, they have done remarkably well for the cause of education among us. That the whole South should commit itself to the principle that the colored people have a right to be educated is an immense acquisition to the cause of popular education.”
—Fannie Barrier Williams (1855–1944)