ENZYMATIC ACTIVITIES AS INDICATIONS OF COPPER AND IRON DEFICIENCIES IN PLANTS

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Abstract
The postulate was made that with the limitation of an element in the nutrition of a plant the enzymatic activity pattern requiring the respective element to function properly would be altered. Relative activities of the enzymes ascorbic acid oxidase, catalase and peroxidase were measured at 2 or 3 ************** periods of growth for one var. each of corn, wheat, and tobacco,. 3 spp. of lupines, and 2 vars. of soybeans grown on a soil of limited copper-supplying capacity, another of limited Fe-supplying capacity, and 2 mixtures of these soils. A limited supply of Cu markedly reduced the ascorbic acid oxidase activity and was correlated with a reduction in yield for wheat in which ascorbic acid oxidase is a terminal oxidase. Wheat responded to Cu and did not develop lime-induced chlorosis when grown on a calcareous soil. Most of the plants which developed lime-induced chlorosis did not respond to Cu and had a lower catalase activity than the normal green plants. Peroxidase activity varied less than catalase and without a specific pattern for any plant spp.