What is Nitrogen Deficiency ?
Many times our plants suffers from the nitrogen Deficiency as Nitrogen easily leeches down. We have to find the proper symptoms shown by the plants for proper diagnosis of this.
We know that Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients needed by plants. It is responsible for efficient growth and reproduction of the crops. As it is involved in many metabolic processes and in some vital process like photosynthesis.
Many times our plants suffers from the nitrogen Deficiency as Nitrogen easily leeches down. We have to find the proper symptoms shown by the plants for proper diagnosis of this. In this context we'll talk about nitrogen deficiencies, nitrogen toxicities, environmental and cultural conditions.
Nitrogen is required in a plant from 1 to 6 percent depending on the plant type. The fertilizers that can be used include anything that is based on ammonium nitrate urea and many manures once nitrogen is in the plant. It is very mobile and if there are high amounts of ammonium present it can reduce potassium, calcium and magnesium uptake.
If nitrate is the predominant nitrogen source and if it's present in high enough concentrations it can also reduce phosphorus and sulfur uptake.
So, what are nitrogen deficiencies and how do they look in the plant?
Symptoms of Nitrogen Deficiency
The oldest leaves will turn yellow. This will be uniform yellowing as these leaves are used up for nitrogen reserves.
The next set of oldest leaves will start to turn yellow as that nitrogen is remobilize and directed towards the newest growth of. the plant these leaves will fall off and the next set of leaves will progressively turn yellow until the deficiency symptoms are corrected. Also, over time stunting of the whole plant can occur because there is insufficient nitrogen present.
How to correct Nitrogen Deficiency ?
Firstly, you could fertilize. If you are not fertilizing then adding nitrogen with fertilization is definitely needed. If you are injecting fertilizer into the irrigation system make sure your stock tanks are full and that the fertilizer is properly mixed in the stock tank.
Check that the injectors are operating properly. Also check your water source. If the water is too cold oftentimes fertilizer mixing does not occur correctly because the fertilizer precipitated out. Also check water quality parameters such as salinity and pH.
Check your routing medium to make sure that you have a high carbon to nitrogen ratio , what this means is that 'nitrogen is being used by microorganisms to break down carbon sources in the media and this can cause nitrogen deficiency for the plant' .
Nitrogen toxicities :- Toxicity can occur if there is too much nitrogen in the system, this will result in succulent growth, a lot of vegetative growth and reduced fruiting and flowering necrosis burning of the foliage can even occur if there is a lot of fertilizer in the system.
Toxicity can also occur if ammonium is the predominant nitrogen form and can cause necrosis of the oldest leaves. This can occur specially in soils that have a pH below 4.5 which is very unusual but can happen when other problems associated with the certification occur in the media.
Environmental and cultural conditions :-There are different environmental scenarios that can also cause nitrogen deficiency symptoms either because of your soil or because of root growth. Cold soils often will have root systems that are not actively growing so nitrogen uptake cannot occur.
Overly wet soils can also hinder root growth and the uptake of nitrogen as well as other nutrients will not occur. As mentioned earlier a high carbon to nitrogen ratio can be a problem even though they have a high carbon ratio. Other products such as bark and peat don't break down as readily so they are not a problem. Check for leaching in soils if you are a container producer.
Over irrigating can leach nutrients away from the root zone before the plants can take them up and this can cause deficiency of nitrogen as well as other nutrients. Also flooded soils can cause a problem because of the anaerobic conditions not allowing for proper root growth in the plant.
Conclusion:- So above is some important information about the nitrogen deficiency, how it occurs and how to find it.
For correction of nitrogen deficiency you can alos use some synthetic fertilizers such as Urea. As it is easily leechable element you have to apply it in split doses.
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