Table 2. Effects Of A Nutrient Disorder On Crop Quality1

This is a compilation of effects that have been found from studies with specific crops. Other soil conditions, however - such as a deficiency or excess of moisture, disease or variations in moisture - may produce similar results.

• Boron deficiency
  • Common characteristics
    • Corkiness
    • Reduced sugar content
    • Bitter taste
  • Brassicas
    • Cabbage: corky and cracked or crosshatched leaves, brown leaf margins, water-soaked or hollow stems, bitter heads
    • Brown cauliflower curds, watersoaked in spots
  • Fruit crops
    • Corky and bitter apples and pears, with brown lesions
    • Irregular corn ears, with corky brown bands at base of kernel
    • Withered small grains
    • Darkened or dried areas in tomatoes.
  • Leafy crops
    • Alfalfa low in carotene
    • Celery cracked, sometimes with brown checking
    • Lettuce malformed.
  • Root crops
    • Brown heart
    • Sweet potatoes misshapen, with rough & leathery skin
    • Beets corky with leaves becoming reddish and tips dying
    • Carrots with longitudinal cracks
• Calcium deficiency, aggravated by a nitrogen or potassium excess
  • Common characteristics
    • dieback of growth tips in tops and roots
  • Fruit crops
    • Bitter pit in apples
    • Blackening & death of beans
    • Blossom end rot in tomatoes & peppers.
  • Leafy crops
    • Inner tipburn of cabbage
    • Black heart in celery
    • Escarole & lettuce have brown heart, rosetting, increased susceptibility to disease
  • Root crops
    • Roots forked & turned in beets & mangels
    • Cavity spot in carrots; dwarfed potato tubers
• Copper deficiency or nitrogen or phosphorus excess
  • Fruit crops (peas, peppers, sunflowers, tomatoes)
    • Flowers abort or fail to develop
  • Grains
    • Seeds light-colored or shriveled
  • Leafy crops (cabbage, lettuce)
    • Poor heading or absence of heads
  • Root crops
    • Poor root development of carrots
    • Thin and yellow onion scales
    • Onion bulbs lack solidity
• Iron deficiency
  • Leafy crops
    • Reduction of carotene
• Magnesium deficiency or potassium or calcium excess
  • Common characteristics
    • Delayed flowering
    • Poor root development
    • Reduced vitamin C
    • Decrease in number of female flowers
    • Abortion of pollen
  • Fruit & root crops
    • Small size
    • Nonuniform ripening
    • Poor color & flavor
    • Reduced vitamin C, soluble solids and sugars in citrus.
    • Reduced green color of beans
    • Magnesium yellowing in tomatoes
  • Leafy crops
    • Magnesium yellowing in celery
• Manganese deficiency or possibly A phosphorus or potassium excess
  • Beans & peas
    • March spot (brown spot or cavity in the seed)
  • Rutabaga
    • Roots rough, cracked and with discolored skin near the top
    • Interior of roots discolored brown
• Molybdenum deficiency
  • Common characteristics
    • Reduced carotene in carrots
    • Increased susceptibility to the aflatoxin-producing fungus
  • Cauliflower
    • Irregular flower curds
  • Fruit crops (barley, oats, peas, tomatoes, wheat)
    • Flowering & fruit formation suppressed
  • Leafy crops (cabbage, lettuce)
    • Poor heart formation
• Nitrogen deficiency
  • Fruit crops
    • Small & brightly colored apples, pears & plums
    • Reduced sugar content of canteloupe
    • Light-colored cucumbers, pointed at blossom end
    • Reduced size of grains
    • Tomato flower buds turn yellow and drop
    • Corn may have increased susceptibility to aflatoxin.
  • Leafy crops
    • Lettuce grows slowly, is bitter and bolts readily
  • Root crops
    • Beets & radishes have small and imperfectly developed roots
    • Reduced carotene in carrots
• Phosphorus Deficiency or Nitrogen Excess
  • Common characteristics
    • Vigourous vegetative growth with late flowering and maturity
  • Fruit crops
    • Reduced size of apples, with poor storage life and lack of firmness
    • Irregular formation of corn ears
    • Dull bronze-green coloration of cucumbers
    • Reduction of vitamin C in tomatoes
  • Leafy crops
    • Alfalfa hay of poor quality
    • Celery tends to remain rosetted
    • Lettuce heads poorly formed
  • Root crops
    • Internal lesions of potato tubers, with increased susceptibility to mechanical damage
    • Poor root development of radishes
    • Reduction of carotene and sugar in carrots
• Potassium Deficiency or Nitrogen Excess
  • Common characteristics
    • Low starch, high amino acid content
    • Reduction of vitamin C
    • High succulence, low dry weight
    • Accumulation ofnitrates
    • Early winter kill of annuals
    • Poor survival off perennials
    • Increased susceptibility to disease
  • Brassicas
    • Hollow stem in broccoli
    • Poor development of brussels sprouts
    • Soft & small cabbage heads, and poor color of red cabbage
    • Vein discoloration of Chinese cabbage
  • Fruit crops
    • Apples small and with poor color
    • Canteloupe splits at the flower end
    • Corn ears poorly filled at the tip
    • Cucumbers narrow at the stem end
    • Small grain stalks lodge, and grains are shriveled
    • Grapes ripen unevenly
    • Pea pods poorly filled
    • Tomatoes ripen unevenly, lack solidity
  • Leafy crops
    • Celery leaf stems short, with streaks of dead & discolored tissue
  • Root crops
    • Beets dark & susceptible to rot
    • Carrots spindly with short growth
    • Onions have poor bulb formation
    • Potatoes have reduced starch and dry weight, oversize and possibly distorted tubers with hollow heart & discolored interior, possibly increased levels of toxic glycoalkaloids in some varieties
    • Sweet potatoes spindly & long
• Zinc Deficiency or Possibly A Phosphorus or Potassium Excess
  • Apples & peaches small & malformed
  • Bean pods fail to develop
  • Corn silking & tasseling delayed
  • Peas have no flowers

1 Data is from [22], [62], [30], [50], [82], [87], [5].   [return to top]