The Fundamentals of Soils Part 3: Soil Testing

This is the third episode of four for The Tillage Edge’s special soil series and this week, Dr Karen Daly, a soil scientist from Teagasc, joins Michael Hennessy to chat about the types of soil test used to measure critical nutrients and the tests most suitable to Irish conditions.

Karen explains that there are many types of soil tests but the Morgan’s test is the most suitable to Irish conditions and this was confirmed in relatively recent research which compared various tests.

Karen says there are new soil testing techniques using spectroscopy which will add to the information available to farmers to better manage soils in the future. 

These new techniques should be available to farmers within the next couple of years.

Next week, in the final part of the soil series, Professor Mike McLaughlin from the University of Adelaide returns to discuss soil health and how to improve your soil.

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ 
Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com