Sodium as an Essential Micronutrient Element for Atriplex vesicaria, Heward

Abstract

SODIUM has been recorded as an essential nutrient element only for the blue-green alga Anabaena cylindrica Lemm.¹. It has, however, been shown that increase in dry weight occurs following application of sodium salts to various higher plants growing in low-potassium culture solution and also to members of the Chenopodiaceae growing in solutions containing adequate potassium; views have been expressed that sodium may partially replace the function of potassium or may prevent toxic accumulations of other elements². The object of this communication is to record sodium as an essential micro-nutrient element for the bladder saltbush (Atriplex vesicaria, Heward), to describe the visual deficiency symptoms when plants were grown in solutions carefully freed from sodium and the recovery of such deficient plants on addition of sodium salts.