Levels of micronutrient cations in different plant parts of various crop species

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Abstract
The objective of this study was to characterize the level of Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe in different plant parts of various forage legumes and cole crops grown in Prince Edward Island. The concentration of the four nutrients was consistently highest in leaves and lowest in the stem, except for Zn in cole crops where a greater concentration was found in the upper halves of the plants than in the leaves. The Cu and Zn concentrations were generally higher in the upper halves than in the lower halves of the plants. Manganese and Fe did not follow any specific pattern in the upper and lower halves of the plants. Zinc, Mn and Fe were lower in the forage legumes than in the cole crops, while Cu was higher in forage legumes than in the cole crops. The mean concentrations of Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe in different plant parts of the forage legumes and cole crops investigated ranged from 25 to 48, 6.1 to 8.8, 47 to 149, and 46 to 112 mg kg‐1, respectively. Since leaves generally contained the highest amounts of Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe, it is recommended that wherever possible leaves should be sampled to characterize the micronutrient cations status of crops.