Abstract
A study of the influence of Fe or Mn (supplied as 5, 20, 35, 50 or 65 ppm) on the grey disorder in flue-cured tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) was conducted with mater-cultured plants grown under greenhouse conditions and fertilized with Hoagland's nutrient solution. The solution was highly unbuffered as is the podzolic soil in which grey tobacco plants grow. When plants were treated with 5 to 35 ppm Fe, the trend in grey index (a measure of grey tobacco symptoms) in top and middle leaves was similar to the trend in Fe content of tobacco leaves. The highest grey index was found in these leaf positions with the 35 ppm Fe treatment. When Fe in solution was increased from 35 to 65 ppm grey index in top leaves decreased but was unchanged in middle leaves. Leaf Fe content for these leaf positions changed little. No apparent relationship between grey index and Fe in bottom leaves was observed. Initially, pH of the nutrient solution increased from a mean of 4.75 to 6.50 (indicating preferential anionic absorption) followed by an abrupt decrease in pH to 4.2 (suggesting preferential cationic absorption which included the Fe treatment in solution). The grey effect identical to that found in field-grown plants developed in the cured leaf of plants treated with high levels of Fe and was considered to be one of the major causal agents in grey flue-cured tobacco. None of the levels of Mn induced the grey effect.
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Arnold, N., Binns, M. Fe, Mn and the grey effect in hydroponically-cultured flue-cured tobacco. Plant Soil 101, 39–43 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02371028
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02371028