Diet Composition Influences Growth Performance, Bioconversion of Black Soldier Fly Larvae: Agronomic Value and In Vitro Biofungicidal Activity of Derived Frass
Agronomy 2022, 12(8), 1765
https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12081765

      Exuviae is today's $2 word. (Ex-ooo-vee-ay).  Exuviae is the molted exoskeletons of insects, made up of nitrogen rich chitin.  In nature, this material is colonized and decomposed by plant growth promoting bacteria.  Some of the bacteria have been found to have anti-fungal effects. 
      In this study by Canadian scientists, we learn that microorganisms present in frass inhibited the growth of disease causing Alternaria, Botrytis, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium.  Furthermore, the feedstock given to the insects (Black Soldier Fly larvae in this instance) influenced the anti-fungal effects. 
      Two feedstocks were used, one known as the Gainsville House Fly Diet (mmmm)(a combination of 50% wheat bran, 30% alfalfa meal and 20% cornmeal), and the other diet being a food waste representative diet consisting of 39% fruits (5% pineapple, 2% cantaloupe, 7% orange, 3% apple, 2% grape, 2% strawberry, 7% bell pepper, 5% tomato, 2% lemon, 2% banana, and 2% pear), 36% vegetables (10% lettuce, 3% carrot, 3% cabbage, 2% onion, 3% leek, 3% celery, 3% broccoli, 2% cauliflower, 5% potato, and 2% corn), 15% bread, and 10% spent brewer’s grains.  Which diet do you think gave us better anti-fungal action?  We're guessing that you're guessing the more diverse food-waste diet. Well,  you're right!!!  Looks like it might be a good idea to get some frass in the mix.  We recommend a top dress of 1/4 cup per square foot, scratched into the top inch or two, covered with a mulch, like straw or wood chips.   Do this every couple weeks through the growing season for a healthy and vibrant garden.  
     
           

Reducing the Adverse Effects of Salt Stress by Utilizing Compost Tea and Effective Microorganisms to Enhance the Growth and Yield of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Plants
February 2023
Link Here

Donuts, cakes, pastries of all shapes, sizes, crispiness, and colors owe their carb-laden glory to the humble wheat plant.  If we are to survive on this planet and have bread, we must do everything we can to help the cultivation of this croissant producing crop. 
      Thank goodness for the ag researchers at King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia.  These bagel saving scientists wanted to see how using compost tea and/or a group of known beneficial organisms (Effective Microorganisms, EM) helps the growth of wheat in soils with high sodium content.  Sodium in soils is an increasingly important problem to tackle if we want to keep eating food. 
       The experiment consisted of four groups of wheat plant plots, a control group that did not have tea or EM, and 3 treatments:  Compost Tea, EM, and Compost Tea + EM.    The EM consisted of Azospirillum brasiliense, Pseudomonas koreensis, and Bacillus circulans.  The tea preparation was not described in this paper, which is unfortunate.  The EM was applied with peat moss as the carrier at the time of seeding. Compost tea was applied as a foliar spray at 30 and 50 days after seed sprouting.  The experiment was ran for two different seasons so that there was enough data to produce reliable statistics. 
        At the end of the trials, the plants were assessed for growth, yield, uptake of nutrients, photosynthesis rates, and metabolic changes.   The researchers found that virtually all parameters were positively affected by the three treatments as compared to the control group.  The plants grew better, produced more usable wheat grains, more nutrients were taken up, antioxidant enzymes were increased, and the plants were more efficient at photosynthesis. 
      The combination of the two, tea and EM, were generally the best performing, while tea was in second place with EM as a close third.  This goes to show that tea can really make a huge impact on crumpet production.   Thanks Saudi scientists!!! Our late night buttermilk donut runs are forever indebted to you steadfast commitment to our gluten habit. 

Compost tea as a sustainable alternative to promote plant growth and resistance against Rhizoctonia solani in potato plants
Scientia Horticulturae
June 2022
Link Here

      If there is anything the world needs right now it is better quality potato chips and french fries.  This is not debatable.  In order to move the needle forward, a group of scientists from the University of Salamanca in Spain, developed a potato growth trial that looked at how the delicious dirt nuggets performed when given compost tea.   The aerated compost tea was made with  green-waste materials (tree and grass clippings) that went through a full thermophilic composting cycle, producing a stable, finished, rich black gold . 
      The study was done with both pot and field experiments, and with and without the addition of the disease causing fungus, Rhizonctonia solani.  In these experiments, various concentrations of compost tea were watered into the pots of field.  In the pots, 9 plants were transplanted, and into the fields about 60 small potato tubers were planted per square meter.  They also performed a sprouting trial, where pieces of potatoes (french fry seeds?) were planted into a sterile potting soil mixture, watching for how quickly and robustly the potato pieces sprouted.  The pots got two applications of tea, while the field was irrigated with tea every two weeks.  The potato pots and the field plants were allowed to grow for about 4 months, or until the above ground plant material began to die off and indicate the potatoes below were ready for pickin',  The sprouting trial ran for 1 month. 
       After counting sprouts, harvesting the finished tubers, weighing, measuring, frying, and (probably) tasting, the scientists used statistics to conclude that compost tea did indeed improve and protect the potatoes.  The tater-tot-debilitating disease Rhizoctonia had its severity drastically reduced.   The quality of the potatoes was improved by tea as well, seen as increased moisture content, and, most importantly, better fry-ability (seriously, bad potatoes discolor when they are turned to chips, the tea-treated potatoes were of better fry quality).    Regarding the sprouting trial, the compost tea treatment caused more sprouts to arise from the potato plugs, with more leaves, vigor, and height.  Most importantly, yields were increased.  More potatoes is good for everyone. 
       The Spanish scientists have contributed to the ever growing body of research on fried potatoes.  This is the sort of information that will lead us into a productive, potato-rich future.  Thanks to those who put in the effort necessary to increase our ability to enjoy the simple, yet globally important tubers.  Look out for a future blog post on improving ketchup quality through tea- treated tomatoes.  

Altering Plant Defenses: Herbivore-Associated Molecular Patterns and Effector Arsenal of Chewing Herbivores
October 2017
Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions
Link Here

Plants and bugs have been battling an evolutionary  arms race since the early Cambrian period some 500 million years ago.  Plants evolve a useful defense strategy, bugs evolve a way around it, plants evolve further, bugs catch up again, and so it has continued and will continue until our sun supernovas.  One fascinating leg of this arms race has to do with a plant's response to insect excrement, aka, frass.
      Frass is similar to worm castings in that it contains nutrients that plants can use, as well as microbes that were part of the insect's gut flora, as well as other insect-produced compounds.  The frass-associated microbes and compounds have been shown to cause plants to stimulate internal defense systems that make plants less palatable to hungry insects.  The name given to these defense systems is Herbivore-Associated Molecular Patterns.  The term "Patterns" is used to indicate the dynamic metabolic pathways that take place involving multiple bio-chemical compounds. 
     The research article this post links to is a review of scientific literature that identify the molecules, microbes, metabolomics, and modes of action that frass has been shown to affect.  And it's not just frass that stimulates a plant's defense system, it's also an insect's saliva, eggs, chewing, even crawling.  It makes perfect sense that a plant has senses to sense insect presence.  The issue is, the pests also have senses that detect the defenses, thereby initiating further the development of the plant-pest arms race. 
     You can find insect frass here (Beetle Juice) that can be used as a fertilizer through soil amending, top dressing, or as part of a biologically rich compost tea.  Thanks to all the scientists out there that bring this useful knowledge to light.  Here's to evolving our way into a sustainable future. 

   
 

CONVERTED OLIVE MILL WASTES TO COMPOST TEA WITH BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT AND ITS IMPACT ON GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY OF MANZANILLO OLIVE TREES
Cairo University
June 2017 (link here)

​         What happens when you apply compost tea, made from olive waste compost, back on to olive trees?   Great question huh?  It's what a group of Egyptian researchers at Cairo University's Agricultural Research Center asked as they embarked on another adventure in organic agriculture!
      The researchers made compost with the leftovers from olive production, mainly olive pomace (waste material after pressing olives for oil).  Along with the compost, the researchers wanted to see if they could make use of "olive vegetable water" (another waste product of olive oil production) as a fortifying ingredient for their tea.  They made several batches, with and without olive water, and some with added beneficial microbes.  They then aerated the compost/water/microbe mixtures in order to make them into true compost teas.  The researchers then applied the teas at different rates to a selection of tester Manzanillo olive trees in an orchard, some 20 miles northwest of Cairo.   The tea was watered into the soil twice a week for four months.   Growth response of the trees, as well as quality and characteristics of the olive yields were measured and analyzed.     
          Incredibly, the scientists found that all trees that received any compost tea performed significantly better in regards to:  the highest shoot length, number of leaves, fruit diameter, flesh/fruit weight, flowering density, perfect flower %, fruit set %, yield, olive oil content, leaf nitrogen and potassium content as well as the highest net profit.  Though all tea treatments were effective, though the most efficient and net-profit maximizing treatment was: compost tea at the rate of 50% plus 50% olive vegetable water and added beneficial microorganisms.  
        Using compost tea in a production system makes perfect sense.  Waste streams are turned back into valuable resources.   Hats off to the Manzanillo olive enthusiasts pushing our collective knowledge onward into a sustainable future.  
        

Effects of Compost tea on Productivity of Green bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Varieties in Sudan Savanna of Nigeria
December 2021
Link Here

             Did you hear the news!?!  How could you not?  It's the hippest thing to happen to green beans since grandma's vegan casserole.  A team of researchers in Nigeria have shown that compost tea makes green bean plants grow bigger, healthier, and more productive.  Here's how they did it:
              The team of green bean scientists grew several plots of the legume during the rainy season of 2018 in Nigeria's Sudan Savanna. Compost Tea was applied at a low and high rates, 10 and 25 days after seeds were sown.  Interestingly the tea application rates were extremely low, the high rate being only 25 gallons of tea over one hectare of land mixed in irrigation water and applied as a soil drench.  The control garden area was given water without any tea added.  At the time of harvest a number of productivity related characteristics were measured.  And guess what....
      The researchers found that using compost tea at the low and high rates both significantly improved growth characteristics.  The bean plants grew taller, had more branches with more and bigger leaves, and they yielded  bean pods that were longer and heavier.  More and bigger beans, plain as day. 
      This study shows that a little compost tea goes a very long way.  Thanks to the hard working ag-scientists of Nigeria for contributing their part to the ever evolving understanding of compost tea.

Acidic compost tea enhances phosphorus availability and cotton yield in calcareous soils by decreasing soil pH
June 2021
Link Here

Article Summary By: Maya Shydlowski


                          In a fresh study published out of the Shihezi University College of Agriculture in China, researchers tested the effects of compost tea on cotton crops in calcareous soils. Calcareous soils contain high levels of calcium carbonate, which limits the utilization of phosphorus in soil. In these soils, phosphorus accumulates but is unable to be used because it is made immobile, or unavailable. Phosphorus then becomes a limiting factor in crop growth, a problem agriculture has been facing and trying to solve for decades. It is known that the pH of the soil effects the availability and uptake of various nutrients in the soil, including phosphorus.  Lower pH indicates a greater acidity in the soil. The acidity helps to increase the mineralization of phosphorus. Mineralization is the process by which organic phosphorus is turned into forms easily accessible and taken up by plants. Calcium carbonate in calcareous soils raises the pH, which is why its presence in soil limits phosphorus uptake. Compost tea is generally acidic due to its components and fermentation process. Therefore, compost tea has the potential to decrease the pH of the soil and increase the mineralization and uptake of phosphorus.
             In this study, the researchers tested just that: They attempted to amend the effects of calcareous soils by applying compost tea. Multiple plots were set up with different management treatments to test this. One pot had an organic fertilizer, another had compost tea, another contained phosphoric acid, and another was an unfertilized control pot. Each had different pH levels, with the lowest being the phosphoric acid, followed by the compost tea, organic fertilizer, and control. These treatments were applied to potted cotton plants and fertilized over multiple months. The researchers took soil samples regularly and analyzed the plants post-harvest. They recorded the amount of phosphorus found in available, moderately available, and unavailable forms.
          The results showed that the treatment types had significant effects on the phosphorus content of the soil and the crops. Applying organic fertilizer, compost tea, or phosphoric acid decreased the pH of the soil. Because of this, these amendments also changed the composition of the forms of phosphorus in the soil. Both the phosphoric acid and compost tea treatments had higher levels of mobile, available phosphorus. The experiment also showed that the treatments affected the growth and yield of the cotton plants grown. Compost tea significantly increased the plant height and leaf number compared to the control treatment. The compost tea treatment had the highest cotton yield, followed by the phosphoric acid treatment, organic fertilizer, and then control. The phosphorus concentrations in the plants were significantly higher in the compost tea and phosphoric acid treatments, which corresponds to the yield findings.
          Overall, this study found that the acidity of the soil amendments made the greatest difference in phosphorus availability and uptake. These results show that using acidic compost tea as a fertilizer in calcareous soils can increase phosphorus uptake, improving crop growth and yield. This has positive implications for agriculture in the future. Hopefully growers will turn to compost tea as a viable amendment to better their soils and their crops.

 

Compost Tea Induces Growth and Resistance against Rhizoctonia solani and Phytophthora capsica in Pepper
April 2021
Link Here

      Need a reason to be more amazed with compost tea? Faculty at the University of Salamanca in Spain have been studying the effects of compost tea on pepper crops, especially their resistance to Rhizoctonia solani and Phytophthora capsica, pathogens common in pepper crops. Ten different treatments were set up to test how various factors in combination with the compost tea affected the pepper plants’ growth and pathogenic responses. The compost tea solution that this team worked with was based off composted green waste, which is basically recycled remnants of yard trimmings and other organic sources. They analyzed multiple samples of the compost tea for its nutritional and microbial composition, as well as some other chemical properties.

The researchers first performed in vitro assays, which are tests that specifically target disease and are done on isolated systems. This is helpful in identifying factors and their effects on specific characteristics. The researchers also performed in vivo assays, which are tests on entire plant systems. This is more beneficial in discovering real-world implications. The researchers grew one set of pepper plants with no compost tea or pathogen introduction and another set of plants with compost tea but no pathogen introduction. They also grew plants with and without compost tea and with each pathogen introduced after transplanting. Their set up would allow them to observe how the compost tea affects plants diseased with these pathogens.

At the end of the experiment, the researchers concluded that the compost tea successfully reduced pathogenic growth and increased plant growth, even when pathogens were introduced to the system at different times. Based on their analysis of the composition of their compost tea and based on others’ research, they decided that the compost tea most likely improves these characteristics because of the nutritional value and microbial makeup of the compost tea. Their solution contained multiple microbes known to help plants fight off these pathogens. Additionally, nutrients measured in the solution, especially nitrogen and potassium, were sources of fertilization for the growth and resistance of the crops. Their in vitro assays showed similar results of pathogen growth in the presence of the compost tea, and therefore the microbes that exist within it.
Overall, this experiment shows the potential for compost tea in pathogen resistance as well as plant growth and yield. It highlights the importance of microbial activity in plant life and in agricultural systems. The researchers did say that their compost tea was not a complete source of nutrients for the peppers, so it would be interesting to see how additional fertilizer sources would impact these findings. Just another reason to research organic systems and to use compost tea!

R&D Piece Authored by:  Maya Shydlowski

fAntifungal Effect of Volatile Organic Compounds from Bacillus velezensis CT32 against Verticillium dahliae and Fusarium oxysporum
December 2020
Link Here

       Here's a doozy.    A group of scientists in China wanted to look into whether or not microbes in compost tea have the ability to ward off disease-causing fungi by producing volatile, anti-fungal compounds.  
      Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are substances that freely dissipate into the environment.  You have probably heard about low-VOC paints, which are paints that do not release toxic fumes, sparing the brain cells of many hardworking painters.  In this experiment, the scientists were looking for bacteria that were good at producing VOCs in order to stave off the growth of phytopathogenic fungi.
       The researchers first made compost from corn stave (which is the remainder of the corn crop after the cobs and the kernels have been harvested) and cow manure.  They used 1 part manure to 5 parts stave.  This was turned every seven days for five weeks.  Then this compost was used to make an aerated tea.   A sample from the tea was taken, and then diluted and plated onto petri dishes so that individual colonies of bacteria could be isolated.  The individual colonies were then identified using PCR, and assayed for biofungicidal VOC action.  This was done by growing the isolated microbes alongside pathogenic fungi.  The bacteria and fungi were separated so that the only thing they shared was air.  The growth, or lack thereof, of the pathogenic fungi was used to determine if the bacteria was producing an inhibitory VOC.  The scientists then selected  the most effective VOC producing microbe, which turned out to be the one and only, Bacillus velezensis strain CT32.
      Once the researchers had their VOC star-microbe, they looked further at the VOCs being produced.  They found that the bacteria was making 30 unique VOCs, 6 of which had never been seen in bacteria or fungi before.  Then the scientists went even further, separating out each VOC and testing them individually for the inhibitory action against fungi.   Eight of the thirty compounds proved to have anti-fungal properties.   The scientists propose that this microbe, and others like it, could be used as biofumigants in order to help prevent vascular wilt infections from pathogenic fungi.  
      There was a lot of science done in this experiment.  The researchers kept looking further and further and finally were able to make a definitive statement about what is happening with our teas and why they work the magic that they do.  Thank you very much to the researchers in China for furthering our understanding of this amazing microbial world.   

Markedly different gene expression in wheat grown with organic or inorganic fertilizer
September 2005
Link Here

      This paper is a little old in science years, but extremely important nevertheless.  A group of Ag-Researchers in the farming town of Rothamsted in southeast England looked at the genetic expression of organically vs. synthetically grown wheat grown in 2002, 2003, and 2004,  The synthetic fields were fed with Ammonium Nitrate, while the organic fields were fed with Farm Yard Manure. 
      The experiment was relatively simple, however used relatively high-tech genetic profiling machinery.  After harvest, genetic expression was assessed in wheat grains from the different fertilizer types.  Analysis was done using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to assess and quantify the RNA found in the grains.  The RNA, which is made from codes of DNA, was compared to wheat's known DNA library.  The presence of RNA indicates which genes in the DNA had been turned on in order to make the RNA.  An elegantly simple example of real world metabolomics, the study of the economy of metabolism. 
      The scientists found that the number of genes transcribed was drastically higher in the Organically grown wheat than in the Ammonium Nitrate grown wheat.  Organic wheat had both a higher diversity of genes activated, and a much higher level of expression.  The majority of genes identified were expressed some 4-5 times more than their synthetic counterparts.   
      This study shows that there is a significant 0difference in how a plant expresses its DNA in response to it's environment (this is an epigenetic changed based on nutritional environment)  The increase in genetic expression has direct correlation to the levels of leftover organic molecules found in plant material.  The next step to take with this research is to determine what this diverse chemical signature does to plant growth and subsequently the quality of the final produce.  Basically, does more and diverse genetic expression lead to better food and medicine?  The current science does seem to support this.   
     So, the next time some tells you that there is no difference between organic and synthetically grown food, you can confidently say otherwise.   The reason why those organic strawberries taste better may have to do with the fact that they are utilizing much more of their genome to grow.  Thanks science!!!      

Integration of Some Bio Compounds with Compost Tea to Produce Sweet Corn without Mineral Fertilizers
July 2020
Link Here

        Leave it up to ag-scientists living in a dry, resource limited area to come up with the next newest agriculture solution.  A group of researchers wanted to see if they could grow corn at a rate considered successful without using synthetic fertilizers, and instead using a nutrient-fortified compost tea.  
      Compost tea alone carries very little of the macronutrients required for robust plant growth, so the scientists combined the actively aerated compost tea with one of 3 nutrient sources.  The nutrient sources they used were:  algae extract, azolla (duckweed), or yeast extract.   The tea was brewed for 24 hours, then one of the three additives was mixed in.  Then the mixtures were applied to plots of sweet corn. 
       There were 5 total plots, one that was fed with a conventional synthetic NPK fertilizer, one with only compost tea, and then three mixtures of tea and additives.  The corn was allowed to grow through the season, with growth and yield parameter surveyed at the end of the cycle.  This  experiment was repeated in two successive years in order to attain substantive data. 
      After the second year's trial the data was analyzed to see if there were any differences between the conventional (synthetic) corn and the compost tea grown corn. 
        Amazingly, the compost tea plus yeast extract plot was found to yield equally to the conventionally grown corn.  The dry weight, size, and yield all were statistically no different, showing that tremendous results can be achieved using natural methods.  The other tea/additive plots produced 10-20% less corn as compared to the tea/yeast or conventional group.
       These findings indicate that the relatively simple to produce yeast-extract has the potential to replace costly, and potentially toxic conventional NPK fertilizers, while at the same time contributing to good soil health by using a sustainable approach.  The amount of tea and additive used  in the experiment was very small in comparison to the amount of NPK fertilizers applied to the field.  The costs, both financially and environmentally, are drastically less when using ecologically sound production principles.    
        Thanks to the Egyptian scientists Saad Abou-El-Hasssan, and Heba El-Batran, without the ardent efforts of people like this, our production systems would continue to be stuck using newly-ancient technology,  and our food and ecological systems would fall further in peril.   So, add some yeast to your brew and thank a scientist!!!!

Compost Tea Reduces the Susceptibility of Pinus radiata to Fusarium circinatum in Nursery Production
Feb 2020
Link Here

     Pine trees used for reforestation are grown from seed or tissue culture, taking some 9 months to mature to be transplant-ready.  During this period, cultural conditions can increase susceptibility to fungal pathogens.  A group of Spanish researchers wanted to see if compost tea provided any protection against these pathogens, specifically the species of Fusarium that causes Pitch Canker.  .
    The scientists looked at several aspects of compost tea and it's affect on the growth and physiology of pine seedlings. 
     The first experiment involved making perti dishes that had compost tea added to them after they cooled so the microbes in the tea were not sterilized by the heat.  The scientists then placed a small colony of Fusarium in the center of the dish and watched to see if the colony grew.   Not surprisingly (if you have been reading previous blog posts)  the dishes treated with compost tea showed a great inhibitory effect.  As compared to a control plate (where there was 0% inhibition), tea reduced growth up to 45%.  Meaning, that the Fusarium colony grew at about half the rate of the un-treated plate.  It was also observed that  there was 79% less germination of the fungal spores, thereby reducing the potential for growth even further.    This promising data pushed the scientists to research further. 
      Next they wanted to see how tea acted in a real-life situation (petri dish experiments are referred to as in virto whereas "real-life" is in vivo).   Pine seedlings were watered with compost tea monthly, and also inoculated with Fusarium spores.   The researchers monitored disease severity over a nine month period.  And, not surprisingly, again, the plants treated with tea had significantly less internal and external disease symptoms.  Furthermore, the tea-treated plants had higher amounts of internal defense compounds, indicating that compost tea helps to bolster a plant's immune system. 
      This study actually had a lot more information than described here, all of it pointed to tea being extremely beneficial as a fungal pathogen preventor.  Thanks to the Spanish scientists with arboreal interests for furthering our understanding of compost tea and it's many benefits.  Muchas gracias amigos intelligentes!!!! 

Ecological nutrient solutions on yield and quality of melon fruits
Terra Lationamericana
January 2020
Link Here

    Want tastier melons?  Who doesn't!?!?  Agricultural Scientists in Mexico wanted to see if using natural growing techniques could produce melons equal to or better than melons grown using synthetic fertilizers.
    To do this experiment, 4 different treatments were applied to melon plants growing in a greenhouse.  The treatments were:  Compost Tea, Vermicompost Tea, Vermicompost Leachate, and Synthetic Nutrient Solution.  The melon were treated weekly and at the end of the season, the harvests were weighed and assayed.  Yields, Brix, phenolic content, antioxidant content, and soluble solids were all determined in the laboratory.
    The scientists found that the yields were all similar, however the nutritional benefits of the natural growing solutions were significantly greater.  Higher soluble solid content in the compost tea treatment indicates that the fruits contained more "stuff" and less water.  Part of that "stuff" is measured in Brix, which is another word for sugar content.  The compost tea had the highest Brix reading of the soluble solids.  This translates into sweeter fruits.  Combined with the greater antioxidant capacity, it's clear that melons grown with natural methods are tastier and healthier.     !!!Muchas gracias a los cientificos por la informacion azuca!!!
      

Compost Tea Induced Callus Proliferation and Defense Response in Rice (Oryza sativaL.) Callus Cells
International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 2019
Link Here

      Fresh tea knowledge coming out of India!  Scientists worldwide are recognizing that compost tea does have some extremely beneficial attributes.  Tea has been shown to undoubtedly increase growth and fight off pests and disease.  Now that tea's efficacy has been settled, inquisitive scientists are starting to ask the whys and hows. 
      A group of scientists from the Department of Plant Biotechnology at the University of Applied Sciences in Bangalore India wanted to see if compost tea stimulated known plant-defense chemicals.  They took undifferentiated plant cells, known as callus cells, and put them on a petri dish that had been treated with compost tea.  The cells were allow to grow for 15 days.  The scientists then looked at the plant cells and determined if, and how much of, the plant defense chemicals were present.  (That was a very simplified version of the whats and hows, click the Link Here button above if  you want to know the nitty-gritty). 
    And low and behold, the scientists found that the  cells treated with compost teas produced more internal plant defense compounds (peroxidase and superoxide dismutase, if you were wondering).  Also,  the callus cells grew bigger, ending up with a significantly higher dry weight than the non-tea-treated control.  Interestingly, some of the callus cells that had been exposed to tea initiated root development.  This lead us to think that something in compost tea is analogous to rooting hormones.  Further investigation is warranted.
      Science shows us again that what the old timers have been saying for years, compost tea makes plants stronger and bigger.  Tell us your tea-tales in the comment below!   

Impact of Compost Tea in Controlling Chocolate Leaf Spot Disease and Soil Microorganisms' Density in Faba Bean (Vicia faba l.)
Januray 2018
Egyptian Journal of Desert Research
Link Here

      Living in a desert presents several challenges for agriculture.  It's not just the lack of water, but also soils that are low in organic matter, microbial life, and nutrition.  The poor growing conditions can lead to weak plants that are susceptible to disease.  A research team in Cairo wanted to see how compost tea might help the situation.  
      The farming scientists tested several aspects of tea: They grew disease causing fungi in petri dishes that contained different concentrations of compost tea to see if tea inhibited growth. They also applied tea as a foliar, soil drench, and seed soak to Faba bean plants that were infected with Chocolate Leaf Spot Disease to see if tea reduced disease severity.  They looked at growth characteristics of faba bean plants, including dry weight and yield affected by the application of compost tea.   They looked at the amount of defense chemicals produced by plants that were administered tea.  And they looked at how tea affected the number of microorganisms in the soil.     
      The scholarly gardeners found some very promising results:  The Chocolate Spot fungi was inhibited from growing on petri dishes that were treated with compost tea.   Foliar spraying tea decreased disease severity  by 60%, while soil drenching gave a 50% reduction.   Compost tea helped increase almost all measured growth parameters.  Soil drenching increased the number of seed pods by 127%, with only a 25% compost tea solution.   Soil Drenching caused the weight and number of seeds to increase, this increase led to more than a doubling of the end yield.  Microbial life in soil increased by up to 10x as compared to the control.  Lastly, the amount of beneficial plant defense promoting chemicals increased in all treatments (by up to 1000%!!!).  These internal plant compounds help plants fight off disease naturally. 
      The researchers conclude that Compost Tea could be "suggested as an eco-friendly strategy that could control leaf spot disease".   This is yet another study that points to compost tea's ability to help us grow abundant crops while lowering our reliance on synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.  To the scientists putting in the time to do these studies, alf šukr!!! (A thousand thanks in Egyptian Arabic). 

Antifungal effects of compost tea microorganisms on tomato pathogens
January 2015
Biological Control
Link Here

        Canadian researchers wanted to know if compost tea had any effect on the disease causing fungi, Botrytis and Alternaria.  The fungal pathogens are known pests on tomato farms and cause a significant amount of loss to the high dollar crop. 
             To test tea's  effects  on tomatoes, the scientists brewed up a compost tea that was derived from sheep manure compost.  They used a series of laboratory techniques to isolate individual species of microbes in the tea.  Then they grew those individual species on petri dishes that also had Botrytis and Alternaria fungal spores growing on them.  The scientists looked for the petri dishes of bacteria that inhibited the growth of the fungal spores most effectively.  They found the most anti-fungal strains were Bacillus subtilis  and Brevibacterium linens.  The scientists then took these two beneficial bacteria and tested how they protected actual tomatoes from fungal infection.  
        To do this, they injected tomatoes with both the beneficial bacteria and the disease causing fungus.  They did this two ways: the bacteria before the fungus, and the fungus before the bacteria.  The reason for the two scenarios was because they wanted to see if there was a preventative aspect to applying the beneficial microbes prior to the introduction of the fungus.  They also wanted to see if the bacteria worked better as singular isolates, or if they were more effective when they worked as a pair. The infected tomatoes were then incubated in a warm and moist environment, allowing the bacteria and fungus to do battle.  The control group were tomatoes infected with fungus, but given no protective bacteria. 
            At the end of the incubation time the researchers measured the size of the lesions produced by the pestilent fungus.   The tomatoes that were treated with the beneficial bacteria prior to fungal infection were in significantly better shape than the ones that were treated after infection.  This supports the idea that an ounce of prevention is worth pounds of cure.  The research also found that the tomatoes that had both strains of beneficial bacteria were well better off than the tomatoes that were inoculated with only one strain.  This lead the scientists to suggest that there is a synergistic effect between the two microbes that act together to suppress fungal growth.   This support's TeaLAB's hypothesis that a bio-diverse compost tea is the most beneficial to the garden.  The take away message is that compost tea helps reduce disease.  It's a low cost, environmentally friendly way to keep a happy garden.   Thanks Canadian scientists!       

 Utilization of compost tea for biochemical response assessment
associated with resistance to phytopathogen causing leaf spot
in Melicope ptelefoli
October 2018
Organic Agriculture
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        Malaysia's warm temperatures and wet climate create almost greenhouse like conditions that can be great for growing plants, but also great for culturing plant-disease causing fungi.   Researchers from  Malaysia's University of Technology wanted to  determine what affect compost tea had on the growth of the leaf spot causing Grammothele lineata. The test plant was the Asian herb Melicope ptelefolia which is known for it's edible and medicinal qualities. 
      Researchers used two types of teas in the experiment, both were aerated, one of which was supplemented with Molasses.  The researchers then made several concentrations of the tea and dipped leaf leaves into it.  The leaves were then sprayed with a solution that contained the Grammothele spores.  The infected leaves were incubated for a week and then the severity of infection was documented.  The leaves were also tested for the amount of naturally occurring plant defense chemicals present in their tissue.  
      What they found was that both teas (with and without molasses) inhibited the growth of the fungal disease by up to 78%.  The highest concentration (40% tea by volume) of molasses brewed tea was the most effective.  The control leaf, which was sprayed with spores only, was completely infected.  Moreover, the leaves that had tea applied to them produced more natural plant defense chemicals (Peroxidase and Polyphenol Oxidase).  The tea boosted the plants own ability to fight off disease.  This is an impressive new discovery in the compost tea realm, as most literature points to compost tea helping reduce infection through competitive exclusion.  This is yet another reason to start using compost tea in your gardens and on your landscape.  Thanks Malaysian scientists for furthering our understanding of why this living fertilizer is such a beneficial substance. 
       

Evaluate the effect of compost tea and some chelated micronutrients forms on black cumin productivity
January 2019
SN Applied Sciences
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The Desert Research Station in Baluza, Egypt had a busy 2018 investigating the efficacy of compost tea on their sandy soils.  Research scientists wanted to know what effect compost tea in combination with the chelating agents EDTA and Humic Acid had on the growth of Cumin, a plant valuable as a food and medicine. 
      Chlelators are molecules that hold onto biologically essential micronutrients in such a way that the micronutrients are kept available for plant use.  EDTA is a synthetic, slowly to biodegrade chemical that has been shown to have toxic effects on animals, while humic acid is a natural compound that has poses no known risk to natural systems.  
      The scientists had 8 different treatments: Compost Tea Foliar Spray, Compost Tea Soil Drench, EDTA Foliar, EDTA & Compost Tea Foliar, EDTA & Compost Tea Drench, Humic Foliar, Humic & Compost Tea Foliar, and Humic and Compost Tea Drench.  The variables that they looked at were: Plant Height, Dry Weight, Weight of Seeds, Oil Percentage, Volatile Oils, and residual Nutrient content in Plants.   The 8 treatments were administered twice during the growing season, at 35 and 70 days after seedling emergence.   All treatments including the control were fed a conventional fertilizer at recommended rates. 
      The researchers grew some pretty outstanding results.  In all treatments there was an increase in all measured variables, however the highest values were seen in the Compost Tea and Humic Acid Foliar treatment.  Plant height, dry weight and weight of seeds, oil percentage and volatile oils were to shown to be maximized by foliar spraying compost tea that included humic acid.  The next highest values were generally seen in the  Compost Tea and Humic Acid soil drench.  Across the board it was clear that compost tea and humic acid are beneficial to plant growth.  
       The researchers conclude that compost tea combined with humic acid provides a significant boost to productivity.  Humic acid is a viable, safe, and better alternative to EDTA.  A big thank you to the cumin cultivating scientists of Beluza, Egypt.