7 ways to empower your soil
Dolomite is a dual calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate fertiliser.
Golden Bay Dolomite is here to help
There are many ways that Dolomite can benefit your soil.
#1: it is a dual calcium and magnesium carbonate fertiliser. In terms of these key nutrients, it contains 39% magnesium carbonate and 59% calcium carbonate.
Our New Zealand soils are often deficient in magnesium. Dolomite builds your soil magnesium and calcium base saturation levels together. These two nutrients are fundamental to achieving healthy soils, pastures and animals.
Healthy Soils
The percentage of magnesium carbonate to calcium carbonate contained in Dolomite helps to effectively build your soil base saturation levels to an optimal percentage (68-70% calcium and 10-12% magnesium).
The work of American soil scientist William Albrecht, of which Golden Bay Dolomite are advocates of, showed that taking a base cation saturation approach to measuring soil fertility is a more holistic and comprehensive soil assessment than a standard routine soil analysis. It aims to take the ecology of the soil into account to inform fertiliser strategies and sustainable soil management that builds long-term soil health, rather than just feeding pastures and agricultural crops.
Taking this approach has multiple farm benefits:
Increased nutrient storage and availability
Continual improvement of soil tilth and soil structure
Reduced reliance on nitrogen inputs
Improved worm and microbial activity
Optimises soil magnesium and calcium base saturation levels
Benefits of Dolomite for pasture and crop growth:
Supplies magnesium found at the centre of the chlorophyll, essential for plant photosynthesis
Stronger, more vigorous clover and pasture growth
Stronger plant roots that grow further down into the soil profile
Healthier, disease and pest-resistant crops
The benefits of powerhouse nutrient magnesium
Functions of magnesium in plants:
Found at the centre of the chlorophyll, essential for plant photosynthesis
It is a carrier for Phosphorus, ensuring a steady supply to the plant
Will increase nitrogen fixation in legumes
It is both an enzyme activator and a constituent of many enzymes
Responsible for sugar synthesis and starch translocation
Nutrient uptake control
Functions of magnesium in animals:
Necessary for 100s of animal biochemical pathways, particularly involved in nerve function
Ruminants require magnesium for efficient feed conversion and metabolism
Magnesium deficiencies manifest themselves as nervousness, grass staggers, milk fever, low milk production, weight loss and infertility