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The Influence of Manganese Deficiency on the Synthesis of Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) in Foliage of Plants
Author(s) -
Harmer Paul M.,
Sherman G. Donald
Publication year - 1944
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1944.036159950008000c0068x
Subject(s) - ascorbic acid , agricultural experiment station , library science , citation , chemist , state (computer science) , agriculture , political science , chemistry , history , horticulture , archaeology , mathematics , computer science , biology , algorithm , organic chemistry
'-|-HE roJe played by manganese in the synthesis J. of ascorbic acid in vegetative tissue has been given considerable attention recently in the field of vitamin research. Nearly all of these studies have been conducted on certain fruits which are considered a good source of this vitamin. Hester (5) found that fruit from tomato plants grown on soil naturally deficient in available manganese and which had received an application of a manganese salt, had more ascorbic acid than the fruit produced on the untreated soil. The recent work of Lyon and Beeson (6), however, failed to substantiate Hester's findings. Since the degree of deficiency of available manganese in a soil can be estimated by the amount of chlorosis of the plants produced on it, it is evident that there must be some definite relationship between manganese supply and chlorophyll production. In fact, McHargue (7) has shown that manganese is essential to the formation of chlorophyll in plants. Since ascorbic acid is present in appreciable quantities in all plant tissue containing chlorophyll, it seemed reasonable to believe that the composition of the foliage of plants would reflect the influence of manganese deficiency on the synthesis of ascorbic acid, even to a much greater degree than will be true in fruits or other nonchlorophyllic plant tissue.