Department of Soils, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141 004.
Eighty samples of leaves from the middle of non-fruiting shoots were collected from 69 orchards located in five districts of the state at the peak harvest stage and analysed for Ca, Mg, S, Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn. The results have shown that the concentrations of S and Zn were much below their critical levels. While 58 and 20 per cent of the samples respectively were in the ‘deficient’ range, their ‘hidden hunger’ was detected in about 42 and 51 per cent ofthe samples respectively. About 63 per cent of the samples showed the hidden hunger of Cu. On the other hand, the concentrations of Ca, Fe and Mn were higher than their upper limits of sufficiency range in 45, 58 and 18 per cent of the samples. The concentrations of Ca were related positively with those of Mg as well as Mn and negatively with those of Zn as well as Cu. Therefore, the observed inadequacies of Zn and Cu might have been induced by higher Ca.
