Prevention of Manganese Deficiency in Oat by soaking the Grain in Solutions of Manganous Chloride

Abstract

TRACE element deficiencies in crops are normally overcome by applying the required element to the soil or by spraying the plant with a solution containing it. However, it has been found that soaking seed in a solution of a salt of the required element is an effective way of preventing the development of deficiency symptoms in the crops grown from soaked seed^1–4. Grey speck of oat, caused by manganese deficiency, is prevalent in many areas of west Scotland due usually to induced manganese deficiency associated with high soil pH. To our knowledge, the possibility of preventing this condition by seed soaking has not been reported before. The following investigations were carried out to determine the possible usefulness of such treatments.