EFFECTS OF ENERGY PROPERTIES OF SOME PLANT NUTRIENTS ON AVAILABILITY, ON RATE OF ABSORPTION, AND ON INTENSITY OF CERTAIN OXIDATION-REDUCTION REACTIONS

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Abstract
One of the major differences in the properties of mineral nutrients and of organic compounds synthesized by plants is the potential energy stored in the organic compounds as a result of the absbrption of light energy in phoyosynthesis. Special consideration is given to the energy properties of nutrient compounds required by plants in the synthesis of organic compounds. The Law of the Photochemical Equivalent is utilized in correlating all the energy values and relationships considered. Some of the energy reactions that would be logically related to the nutrition of plants and animals are considered. There is a close correlation between the intensity of removal of certain nutrient cations from soils by electrodialysis and the standard electrode potentials and the ionization potentials of certain nutrients. The avg. quantities of the different elements found in a wide variety of plants and the relative strength of ions are closely correlated. Ca-accumulating crops are usually high in Cl and low in Si; Si-accumulating plants are relatively low in Ca and high in K or Na. The Ca-accumulating plants would be expected to produce relatively less total dry matter than the Si-accumulating crops. The exothermic reactions in the formation of certain nutrient compounds are in close agreement with the absorption bands in chlorophyll or with the endothermic reactions in photosynthesis. The quality of energy utilized by plants in photosynthetic reactions may be related to the quality of the food compounds syntheized.