Studies on the chemistry of copper and zinc applied to three different soils — A comparative study

Abstract

Abstract Swingle and Webber and Floyd(1), Raulin, Javillier, Sommer and Maze (2) and other workers have reported that shortage of copper and zinc in soils and nutrition of plants produces many deficiency diseases in fruit trees, cereals, and other papillionaceous plants. Hence for the cure and control of these deficiency diseases, the use of various copper and zinc compounds is betoming more common. Retention, availability, and fixation of copper and zinc added to soils have been found to be governed by pH, calcium carbonate, organic matter, and clay content of the soils (3-9). We have (unpublished data) observed that in addition to these factors, base exchange capacity (b.e.c.) of soils and the application of fertilizers also affect the retention, fixation, and availability of copper and zinc applied to the soils in varying amounts.