Japan Leads in Magic Bubbles for Farming
Bubbles? Not the bubbles that hurt Japanese economy quarter of a century ago but certain magical bubbles that activate economy. Here's an episode that tells all about it.
It's about macro bubbles you can't see. So micro that when diluted into the water they work in such a way that agricultural production soars. The bubbles clean things a lot easier, so they say. Japan leads the world in the technology for manufacturing bubble generators - another feat in the land of Rising Sun.
In Kikukawa, Shizuoka, along the hillside stretch tea farms and rice paddies. In the outskirts of the town stands a vinyl greenhouse of tomatoes of the agricultural production corporation SunGrace. Here in this greenhouse the microbubbles are performing a miracle.
A decade ago the Corporation's President Kenichi Sugiyama designed the greenhouse after a Dutch model. Tomato seedlings are planted with rigid regularity and raised with half the normal dosage of agrochemical and fertilizer.
"This device generates microbubbles", President Matsumoto pointed to a huge tank that holds 10 tons of water. Micro bubbles one micrometer in size - micro means one millionth. He pushed a button on the operating board; the device began roaring.
In the greenhouse tomato seedlings are fed with a mixture of small air bubbles and fertilizer. Last year microbubbles were tested on them and the amount of yield rose by 10%. "Bubbles send oxygen farther into the soil to the roots of tomato plants and activate microbes that stimulate the growth of tomato", explained President Sugiyama.
The effects of microbubbles were known years ago. The mayonnaise manufacturers Kewpie Corporation mix micro bubbles in mayonnaise to give that fluffy touch; bubbles are used as surfactant and NEXCO (West Nippon Expressway Company) employ micro bubbles to clean washrooms in the service areas.
The size of the bubble is a crucial factor. A leading control apparatus manufacturers IDEC Corporation have succeeded in generating bubbles 100 nanometers in size - nano stands for 1 billionth.
More power to bubbles!
News Source: Nikkei Shimbun
