Question

If a plant shows a symptom which could develop due to deficiency of more than one nutrient, how would you find out experimentally, the real deficient mineral element?

Answer 1

Deficiency symptoms are first studied by means of pot and culture experiments. Rapidly growing plants which develop characteristic symptoms are used in culture experiments. They are called test (= indicator) plants. They are then grown in soil under test in small pots. The results are compared to know the deficiency elements. Similar tests are performed with selected crops.

Answer 2

In plants, the deficiency of a nutrient can cause multiple symptoms. For example, the deficiency of nitrogen causes chlorosis and delayed flowering.

In a similar way, the deficiency of a nutrient can cause the same symptom as that caused by the deficiency of another nutrient. For example, necrosis is caused by the deficiency of calcium, magnesium, copper, and potassium.Another point to be considered is that different plants respond in different ways to the deficiency of the same nutrient.

Hence, to identify the nutrient deficient in a plant, all the symptoms developed in its different parts must be studied and compared with the available standard tables