INTENSITY OF REMOVAL OF CATIONS FROM COTTON, CORN, AND SOY BEAN TISSUE BY FRACTIONAL ELECTRODIALYSIS

Abstract

In a consideration of the characteristics of various plants a number of empirical studies have been made on the soil fertility requirements, shade tolerance, and food value of plants grown under varying environmental conditions (2, 3, 4, 5). There seemed to be some correlation between the relative strength of ions required by plants for optimum growth and the quality of light required. Certain plants which grow successfully in the shade may utilize relatively more of the weak nutrient ions. It might be expected that plants which have the ability to utilize weak nutrient ions and tolerate shade would synthesize organic compounds of relatively low quality energy value. These general observations lead to a consideration of the application of certain of the modern concepts, which have been useful in chemistry and physics, to soil fertility and mineral nutrition studies of plants. Since every form of energy may be considered as compounded of two factors, one the intensity factor and the other the capacity factor, it is desirable to know the relative importance of these two factors in biological reactions. The data reported are concerned with the intensity factor and only incidentally with the capacity, or quantity factor. It is believed that the life processes are more intimately concerned with the intensity factor of