Department of Horticulture, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Using sand culture, experiments were conducted to see the role of heavy metals in inducing iron deficiency in peach plants. Excess of zinc, copper and manganese induced iron deficiency and molybdenum induced zinc deficiency and not of iron. Plants tended to recover in all the treatments in three to six weeks; hence the concentrations of the elements were further raised. This resulted in plants showing iron deficiency once again but even the increased concentration of molybdenum caused zinc deficiency only. The excessive concentrations of heavy metals resulted in inhibition of iron absorption by roots and its inactivation at leaf level.
