Growth response of cabbage plants to sodium halides under water culture conditions

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Abstract
Cabbage plants were water-cultured with the addition of sodium halides to culture solution, i.e., NaF(0, 5, 50, 250 ppm F), NaCl(0, 50, 500, 2,500 ppm Cl), NaBr(0, 5, 50, 250ppm Br), and NaI(0, 0.2,2,10 ppm I), and the effects of the addition on the growth of the plants were studied. The plants without an addition of the sodium halides had the highest dry weight of all the plant and the highest yield (dry weight of the inner leaves) and showed no symptom of a deficiency injury. As the concentration of F, Cl, Dr, and I in the culture solution increased (more than 50, 500,50, and 0.2 ppm, respectively), both the dry weight and the yield decreased, and symptoms caused by the excess of the elements developed in the plants with the halogen contents in the plants increasing. The critical contents of F, Cl, Dr, and I which resulted in the 50% decrease in the yield due to the excess injury were estimated to be about 0.05, 2.0, 1.5, and 0.04% on a dry basis in the outer leaves and 3.0, 1.5, 1.0, and 0.15% in the roots, respectively. These values in the outer leaves indicate that cabbage plants are tolerant to an excess of halogen elements in the following order; Cl > Dr > F > I.