Abstract
REPORTS of field occurrences of molybdenum deficiency in small-grained cereals are rare. Fricke1 in Tasmania showed that the ‘blue chaff’ disease of oats could be cured by applying molybdenum. Lobb2 and Fitzgerald3 in New Zealand, and Mulder4 in The Netherlands, have reported responses with field grown oats to molybdenum. Lobb2 and Mulder4 have also obtained field responses with wheat to molybdenum. It has been found that large areas of Australian soils are deficient in molybdenum that can be used for nitrogen fixation by Leguminosae, and for growth by Cruciferae, Compositae, Cucurbitaceae, Solanaceae and Linaceae5. The only field responses in the Gramineae in Australia are those reported by Fricke1 with oats, and Noonan6 with maize. It has frequently been demonstrated, for example by Johnson et al.7, that members of Gramineae are relatively tolerant of low supplies of molybdenum and that molybdenum deficiency in cereals only occurs in extreme conditions of molybdenum deficiency.
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References
Fricke, E. F., J. Austral. Inst. of Agric. Sci., 13, 75 (1947).
Lobb, W. R., N. Z. J. Agric., 87, 3 (1953).
Fitzgerald, J. N., N. Z. J. Agric., 89, 619 (1954).
Mulder, E. G., Plant and Soil, 5, 368 (1954).
Stephens, C. G., and Donald, C. M., Adv. Agron., 10, 239 (1958).
Noonan, J. B., Agric. Graz., N.S. Wales, 64, 422 (1953).
Johnson, C. M., et al., Plant and Soil, 4, 178 (1952).
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GARTRELL, J. Field Responses of Cereals to Molybdenum. Nature 209, 1050 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/2091050a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2091050a0
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