Premium
STUDIES IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF MINERAL DEFICIENCY: V. MANGANESE DEFICIENCY IN WHEAT
Author(s) -
GOODALL D. W.
Publication year - 1949
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.1949.tb06398.x
Subject(s) - manganese , dry matter , biology , weed , limiting , agronomy , yield (engineering) , horticulture , zoology , metallurgy , materials science , mechanical engineering , engineering
At fourteen sites where winter wheat was growing commercially, twelve of which were known or suspected to be deficient in manganese, a spray of manganese sulphate was applied late in the shooting stage of development, and the effect on yield of grain estimated. Samples of certain organs of unsprayed wheat plants were gathered on three occasions between tillering and ear emergence, and samples of weed leaves on the same occasions and after harvest; these samples were analysed spectrographically for manganese. The results indicate that analysis of the wheat plant can be used to forecast its response to a manganese sulphate spray, and the following tentative limiting values for manganese content are put forward, above which no increase in grain yield as a result of treatment may be expected: (a) during tillering, 34 p.p.m. manganese in dry matter of lower leaf blades; (b) just prior to ear emergence, 36 p.p.m. manganese in dry matter of stems. The highest correlation obtained between response and manganese content was that with the values for stem samples gathered just prior to ear emergence. Analysis of weed samples can only be expected to indicate gross differences in the manganese status of different sites.