Boron - 1/1/10

As I begin this letter, it is the first day of January 2010.  Time to start our Celsius countdown!  Back on

March 2, 2007, the Capital Press, Oregon's agricultural weekly, ran an article called "Nutrient Input by

the Numbers." This article laid out a method for determining when to apply pasture fertility

amendments.  Beginning January 1, you start recording the high temperature in Celsius of each day

that is above freezing.  Say January 1 is 2 degrees Celsius and January 2 is 5 degrees Celsius.  The sum

is 7.  Just skip the freezing days.  When the sum reaches 100, it is time to fertilize.  The sum may

reach 100 as early as mid-January or February.  In 2008 and 2009, we hit 100 around January 15.  The

pasture may look dead or be covered in snow.  It seems that root growth actually begins in the dead

of winter and this method has been shown to increase pasture grass growth by as much as one third. 

I don't know about that, but it brings spring into the house early as we place our order for soil

amendments and look forward to spreading them just ahead of a good rain.  Our grazing season seems

to be starting weeks ahead of most other farms in the area, which is far more important to us than

actual tons of hay.  The more grazing we get, the merrier!

********************

So what's in the mineral soup for 2010?  Boron, for sure!  Yep, the same stuff that goes in your

washing machine to make your clothing whiter and brighter. 

What is Boron?

 

Boron is a fairly rare, metallic trace element that is reported in parts per million on a soil test.  It has

a negative electrical charge and so is not attracted to and held by the negatively charged clay colloid.

This means it leaches readily.  In high rainfall areas such as ours, boron will be continuously leached

and removed by crops. So for us, application of boron is an annual event.  Boron must be converted

into borate by soil microorganisms in order to be used by plants.

Boron in minute amounts is vitally important to both plant and animal health. Yet it may not be

considered by soil labs as necessary to nutrient-dense pasture production because of its potential

toxicity to plants and seedlings (and perhaps because it may not increase yield).  Soil labs are not

usually in the business of making fertilizer recommendations for animal health, but for yield.  Since

pasture is generally considered a "low value" crop, it may be overlooked in fertilizer

recommendations.  It is always assumed that shortfalls in pasture minerals can be made up in the

mineral box.  But a grass farmer knows the true value of grass. The health, reproductive vitality and

long life of the livestock and horses that feed upon it, and the subsequent health of humans who dine

on grassfed products and nutrient-dense veggies from a remineralized garden, cannot be measured in

dollars. So let's look at some reasons for considering boron as a pasture soil amendment.

Boron in the Diet

First, we'll look at why our animals need adequate boron in their diet.  We have already seen that it

may leach readily and become deficient in some soils because it is not held in the root zone by the

clay.  And yet we hear so little about supplementing either the soil or the animals with boron.  Can

we supplement boron in the mineral box?  If so, how much? Or is there a reason it should first pass

into a plant before being consumed by the animal?   We will establish a few good reasons why our

animals should get their boron from pasture plants instead of inorganic rocks, by taking a look at what

plants do with boron that animals can't do for themselves.

USDA studies performed by Dr. Curtiss Hunt, Research Biologist, have proved that 3mg of dietary

boron in humans will prevent the excretion of magnesium through the urine.  It plays a role in

delaying or preventing the onset of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. Boron is linked to proper insulin

and glucose metabolism in both humans and animals.   We know that deficiency of magnesium is

implicated in grass tetany, and magnesium, glucose and insulin metabolism are players in the suite of

diseases known as Equine Metabolic Syndrome.   This makes boron of supreme importance to those of

us dealing with these diseases, and to those of us who never want to deal with them in the first

place! 

Boron works with calcium to maintain healthy bones.  Adequate intake of boron is involved in

anti-inflammatory processes.  It is involved in maintaining body temperature and antibody production. It

is very involved in calcium metabolism.  It is vital to hormonal health.

Albrecht and others showed that boron has considerable involvement in glycogen synthesis in the

liver.

Why do Plants need Boron?

In plants, boron increases nitrogen availability, and is vital to the nodulation of legumes.  That means

free nitrogen fertilizer, which should be motivation enough if one is trying to get away from

chemical nitrogen and establish a healthy stand of legumes in the pasture. 

Boron, along with calcium, is vital to cell wall strength, much as it is to bone strength in animals. 

Strong cell walls are more able to resist insect and disease attacks and lodging.  It is involved in cell

division, fruit and seed development, sugar transport, and hormone development. It is involved in the

movement of Calcium from the soil into the plant and in normal Calcium metabolism.  Boron increases

the rate of transport of sugars (which are produced by photosynthesis) from where they are created by

mature leaves, to storage sites, and to growing regions such as roots and shoots. Boron plays an

important role in regulating hormone levels in plants.

The Advantages of Plant-Derived Dietary Boron

What can plants do with boron that animals can't?  That is a very good question!  Boron can

influence the level of tryptophan content in alfalfa.  In one study, reported by Andre Voisin in his Soil,

Grass and Cancer, the tryptophan levels actually doubled when boron concentrations in the nutrient

solution were increased from 0.22 ppm to 1.08 ppm.  That means the alfalfa is producing more of an

essential amino acid (one the animal cannot produce for itself) in the presence of sufficient soil

boron.  Boron increases the carotene and chlorophyll content of alfalfa (Dregne and Powers, 1942)

How Much?

The National Research Council has not published a recommended daily allowance of boron for man or

beast.  It's not a question of whether boron is a necessary human and animal nutrient.  That fact has

been established.  The problem seems to be that boron is very difficult for researchers to find when

it's present in combination with other nutrients.  This makes it extremely difficult to determine just

how much of this element is necessary in the diet.  That does not mean we should ignore it in the

health of our soils and animals...or ourselves!

So how do we know how much is enough?  For humans, it's about 3mg dietary boron, according to Dr.

Hunt.  For animals, it's not really possible to say at this time.   Pat Coleby, in her Natural Farming

book, notes that she added one gram (about 1/4 teaspoon) of per head in her milking goat flock. For

horses, it's more like starting at 5 grams (about 1 tsp) per day, and reducing to about 2.5 grams per

day.  This can be supplied by ordinary 20 Mule Team Borax. These recommendations would be for

animals in known boron-deficient areas. She has noted these amounts to eliminate "clicking joints."  In

high rainfall areas of New Zealand, sheep arthritis has been cured by boron, however there is no

reference to the therapeutic dose in this particular paper.  Arthritis occurs most frequently in

Jamaica, which is the land mass with the least amount of soil boron.  Arthritis occurs least frequently

in India, the land mass which has the most soil boron, which is apparently delivered in plentiful supply

by the spice, turmeric.  Penn State University says that a healthy grass hay will contain around 5-10

ppm boron, clover 20 ppm and alfalfa around 30 ppm between bud and 1/10th bloom.  For our farm,

we trust that what is good for the plant is good for the animal.  Our last hay analysis showed 11ppm

boron.  We had made one application of boron and the next soil test showed that it was all either

used by that one crop, or perhaps leached in our high rainfall.  That probably means that boron

additions will be an annual requirement, especially as legumes increase in the sward. Not many forage

labs test for boron.  Texas A and M is one that does.

And for the Soil?

Keeping boron at the right amounts in the soil and the most available to the plants is the province of

the soil consultant that recognizes its importance, not only for the forage plants, but also for the

health of the animals consuming them.  DO NOT consider adding boron to your soil without this

advice.  It's best to get a thorough soil analysis done and follow the advice of your consultant before

considering the application of soil boron.

As with all minerals, too much of a good thing (boron) can become toxic.  Boron can be especially

"slippery" in the soil, as one source calls it.  Boron and Calcium are inextricably linked in the

metabolism of both plants and animals, and like so many other minerals, should be in balance with one

another.  Michael Astera of www.soilminerals.com, in his book, The Ideal Soil, recommends that

boron be present in the soil at one part boron to 1,000 parts calcium, up to a total of 4 parts per

million of boron.  The amount of calcium that should be present in a given type of soil is variable, and

as a result, so is the amount of boron.  Get a reliable soil test done!

 As far as availability to plants goes, it appears that boron is most active in a soil pH range of about

5.0 to 7.0 (more acid to neutral).  Too much of the pH-influencing minerals such as calcium and

magnesium will impact its availability to plants.

According to a 1942 paper entitled "Boron Fertilization of  Alfalfa and Other Legumes in Oregon" by H.E.

Dregne and W. L. Powers.  Dogpatch was boron deficient 70 years ago.  Imagine how badly our pasture

plants need boron now!

For More Reading on Boron:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/researchpublications/Publications.htm?seq_no_115
http://www.dcnutrition.com/minerals/Detail.CFM?RecordNumber=47
http://www.borax.com/agriculture/files/an203.pdf
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10026&page+510
http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/files/Forageweb2.pdf
The Ideal Soil, by Michael Astera, www.soilminerals.com
Hands On Agronomy, by Neal Kinsey, www.kinseyag.com
The Biological Farmer, by Gary Zimmer

 

Comments

[Michael Astera]

How much of "mainstream" medicine is based on double-blind long term studies? Some of the drugs, that's about it. A good part of it is poke-and-hope. "Here, try this."

Pat Coleby may be controversial or even eccentric, but she gets results and I have yet to hear of her making things worse.

How about you, Dr Waller? Any evidence of someone using Coleby's ideas and having things come out worse?

Michael A

[Barb Lee]

Thank you for taking time to write Dr. Waller. It's refreshing to get a conversation going on some of these subjects. I am well aware that Ms. Coleby is a wart on the backside of the scientific community. I have had many a heated discussion about her with a prominent Ph.D in the sheep industry. Now if you want unsubstantiated, non-factual and pure unscientific rambling from a scientist, this is what he told me, as my sheep were dropping dead of copper deficiency: "If there was a copper deficiency in Oregon, then all the sheep in the Willamette Valley would be dead." He lives in Arkansas. Strange that the cattle industry recognizes the copper deficiency here, but not the sheep industry, or the veterinarians. Keep in mind that this entire blog is dedicated to Dr. William Albrecht, himself a highly controversial man of science. Where the mainstream failed to relieve the suffering of my livestock, Ms. Coleby and Dr. Albrecht stepped in. Now...boron is proven to be a player in arthritis. The question for the scientist seems to be, boron is a very tricky trace mineral to study, so how do we research it? The question for the farmer is, my soil is boron deficient and my animals are suffering as a result, how do I get boron into my animals while I remineralize my soil? Enter Pat Coleby. Just shovel some household borax into them. She found out from the scientists that boron deficiency was making her goats lame, so she found a way to get boron into their diets. And she shared the information with me. So while we put the boron back in our soil, I feed my horses a teaspoon of 20 Mule Team Borax every day, per Coleby, and my old horse's joints have stopped clicking. The probelm with Coleby is that she's sort of a "channeler" between what she's read of science, and how she's applied the information. It's beyond folk medicine, but it's definitely not clinical. Because she can't be classified, she tends to be scourged. Well, a lot of scientists have lost their tenure and suffered discredit because they didn't agree with the funding source. Science failed to help my animals when it failed to recognize the obvious. But it was science - old and controversial science - that I discovered through a little old Aussie farmer, that saved us here. I feel that it is most prudent to include references to Coleby that I have applied to my own experience and experienced success with her ideas.

Kind regards,
Barb Lee

[Dr. Peter Waller]

To begin to write articles such as this it would be prudent to leave any ramblings written by Pat Coleby out of provided information due to the fact the information is unsubstantiated, non-factual, and pure unscientific rambling.