Documenting Nutrient Deficiency and Accumulation Rate in Vegetables

This on-going research project is designed to develop nutrient deficiency symptoms in the leaves of common horticultural crops by growing plants in a carefully controlled greenhouse environment. During this last year, photographs were taken of nutrient deficient cucumbers, strawberries, and coffee. The first e-book from this research project has been released for reading on a smartphone, reader pad, or computer, illustrating nutrient deficiency symptoms of broccoli.

Using nutrient deficiency symptoms alone to identify plant stress can be challenging. Different plant species express symptoms in unique ways, making diagnosis difficult. The purpose of this project is to develop high-resolution photographs of nutrient deficiency symptoms of important horticultural crops under carefully controlled growing conditions.

Whenever crops are supplied with sub- or supra-optimal rates of macro and micronutrients, the impact on the yield can be drastic. The measurement of days needed to develop visual deficiency or toxicity symptoms indicates the sensitivity of the crop to a particular nutrient. Information generated in this on-going greenhouse project provides a unique and invaluable tool for technical personnel and growers to visually diagnose plant nutrition problems.

When crops do not receive an adequate supply of any of the essential plant nutrients, deficiency symptoms may appear along with reduced growth rates and diminished harvest quality. Efforts to document mineral nutrient deficiency symptoms have primarily been focused on common grain crops. However horticultural crops account for about one-third of the total agricultural value in the U. S. , but still receive much less scientific attention.

A photo catalog of nutrient deficiency symptoms is being developed for common vegetable crops. The first phase of this research and education project is to induce mineral deficiency symptoms for various hydroponically grown plants in the greenhouse. Using purified nutrient solutions, plants were systematically deprived of each essential nutrient to observe the development of deficiency symptoms. A complete set of deficiency photographs is now available for lettuce.