A Growth Chamber Study of Copper Nutrition of Cereal and Oilseed Crops in Organic Soil

Abstract

Copper nutrition of barley (Hordeum vulgare'Conquest'), oats (Avena sativa 'Hudson'), wheat (Triticum aestivum 'Neepawa'), flax (Linum usitatissium 'Dufferin') and canola (Brassica campestis 'Torch') was studied on a severely Cu-deficient organic soil in a controlled environment growth chamber. The objective of the study was to facilitate identification of Cu-related growth disorders by establishing the critical levels for Cu in plant tissues of the crops listed above.Copper deficiency symptoms were exhibited by all crops when Cu was not applied.Copper concentrations in plant shoots were considered as low when they ranged from 3.0 to 4.9 pg Cu/g plant dry matter (pdm) for wheat, from 2.3 to 3.'1 pg Cu/ g pdm for barley, from 1.7 to 2.5 pg Cu/g pdm for oats, from 1.7 to 2.7 p'g Cttl g pdm for canola and from2.4 to 3.5 pg Cuig for flax. The measurements were made at heading for the cereals, pod initiation for canola, and at flower initiation for flax. Concentrations below these ranges were considered deficient and above these ranges sufficient. The order of tolerance to Cu deficiency in the soil was canola) barley ) oats ) wheat)flax.

Effect of copper on stem melanosis and yield of wheat: Sources, rates and methods of application

“…Yield response of cereals due to Cu fertilization has also been investigated in Western Canada Kruger et al, 1985;McAndrew et al, 1984). However, little information is available on the effect of different methods, sources and rates of Cu application in correcting Cu deficiencies for Western Canadian soils (Karamanos et al, 1986).…”

Stem Melanosis of Some Wheat, Barley, and Oat Cultivars on a Copper Deficient Soil

“…Smilde and Henkens (1967) reported that sensitivity to copper deficiency was generally greatest in wheat, lowest in oats and intermediate in barley. A further study by McAndrew et al (1984), also demonstrated that wheat was the most sensitive cereal to copper deficiency, followed by oats and barley. Nambiar (1976) showed that cultivars of a cereal may vary in their sensitivity to low soil copper levels but the yields of some oat cultivars were more affected by the copper deficiency than those of wheat cultivars, The objective of the present study was to compare stem melanosis, yield, height, thousand kernel weight (TKW), and vigour of various wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), and oat (Avena saliva L.) cultivars grown on a copper deficient soil with or without added copper.…”