My granddad, Luirang Humao once told me about yimru (local dialect), it means very fertile soil which infers good crops and good harvests, narrates Yangmiso Humao, a Kachai champra (Citrus Jambhiri Lush.) farmer. It relates to his rediscovering the traditional knowledge for citrus farming. So, what is the trait that makes the soil very fertile? In common term, it is the white thread like fungal hypha which is found abundantly in our forest floor.
Scientifically, a hypha is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. It is a part of the fungal vegetative growth and collectively called a mycelium. It decomposes dead or decaying materials and helps in exchanging nutrients to plants and environment. However, all species are not useful, while some important species are often seen glowing during rainy season in damp places. If we think about our land historically they were once covered in thick forest teeming with living and non-living beings. Our forest and grassland ecosystem are dynamic, functioning, and so much diversity. Out of many known and unknown relationships or partnerships, the plant-fungal mutualistic relationships have existed in large evolutionary time scales, perhaps a million of years. Can we integrate this mutualistic relationship of plant and fungal into our agricultural or food production system?
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These fungal structures create extensive network above and below ground and also connect directly into the roots of plants. They help in exchange of nutrients (carbon, zinc, ammonium and phosphorus) and water uptake for the plants. They enhanced soil structure by entangling soil particles, smaller pieces, or crumbs of soils into aggregates and established the soil stability. They prevent soil erosion, increase aeration, and improve water infiltration in soil. It can be scale-up and replace the chemical fertilizers and improve the farmer welfare. It is a Nature-based solution and sustainable soil management which is in conformity with the UN 17-Sustainable Development Goals.
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To give the ideas of the benefits of hyphae, a progressive farmer, Y Humao is inoculating hyphae in mulching on his citrus farm. He also tested inoculation in three different substrates- bamboo+soil+rice barn, crogon grass + mixture of farm weeds+soil, and pine coarse bark+soil+farm weeds to find the most profuse growth rate. It is also observed that the hyphae prefer moist and newly cut weeds. Some of the preferred partners of hyphae are coarse tree bark, bamboo, Mexican devil grass, crogon grass, etc. Its best time for seeding is May-June just before the monsoon rain. Its most important characters are cloud white color, odorless and non-poisonous. It is convinced that our forests harbor one of the biggest reserves of beneficial hyphae. Can we domesticate this symbiosis to enhance the soil food web?
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Rainforest Biodiversity of Phalee (RBP), a community based organization that works on UNDP-NEICI project, is assessing the soil food web and few more natural processes like decomposition of fig and Himalayan apple fruit droppings on soil ecosystem. It is understood that we can improve the soil food web by harnessing the indigenous knowledge. We have on-ground experiences, that hyphae can improve our nursery soil preparation and farm soil ecosystem and increase the farm yield sustainably. We are not the first to discover this phenomenon; the mycorrhiza is well known in Japan, Germany, etc.
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When we look broader, human communities are impacted by relationship between agriculture, environment, nutrition, health, and social development. Many developing countries and many rural communities are stuck in cycle of degradation, especially driven by the loss of soil productivity, pest infestation, climate change, and poverty. Simple innovation in our bio-cultural practices can influence the soil health as well as the well being of the farmers. It can further increase the farm production by adopting specific local agro-ecological features. Such sustainable approaches can expand our access to previously less discovered and underexploited natural sources.
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Written by Dr. Ngalengshim, Rainforest Biodiversity of Phalee.
phalee.rfb@gmail.com