UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATION No. 369 



Washington, D. C. 



March 1941 



THE MINERAL COMPOSITION OF CROPS WITH PARTIC- 

 ULAR REFERENCE TO THE SOILS IN WHICH 

 THEY WERE GROWN 



A REVIEW AND COMPILATION * 



By Kenneth C. Beeson, chemist, Bureau of Plant Industry 2 



CONTENTS 



Introduction ." 1 



Some soil characteristics cited in relation to the 

 occurrence of certain nutritional diseases of 



man and animals 4 



Studies of the relation of soils to bone 



diseases 4 



Studies of the relation of soils to the 



nutritional anemias 12 



Studies of the relation of soils to "leek- 



sucht" 16 



"Alkali disease" or selenium poisoning. _ 17 



Iodine 17 



Other nutritional disorders associated with 



soils 19 



Summary of sections on soil characteristics 

 in relation to nutritional diseases of man 



and animals 20 



Factors affecting the mineral composition of 



plants 22 



Effect of soil composition on mineral 



composition of plants 22 



Effect of soils on botanical composition of 

 herbage of pastures.. 39 



Page 



Factors affecting the mineral composition of 

 plants — Continued. 

 Summary of effects of soils on plant com- 

 position 40 



Effect of fertilizers on plant composition __ 41 



Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, 42 



The minor fertilizer elements 47 



Summary of effect of fertilizers on plant 



composition 51 



Miscellaneous factors influencing the 



mineral composition of plants 52 



Age of plant 52 



Climate 54 



Irrigation 56 



Variety 57 



Mineral content of different parts of 



the plant 58 



Literature cited 59 



Sources of unpublished material 91 



Appendix 92 



Tables of crop composition 92 



INTRODUCTION 



The nutritional value of such inorganic elements as calcium, phos- 

 phorus, iodine, copper, and iron has been demonstrated by many 

 investigators, and it is generally recognized that quantitative varia- 

 tions of these elements in foods and feeds are important factors in 

 human and animal health. These and other mineral elements, espe- 

 cially those occurring in trace amounts, are receiving greatly increased 



i The work represented by this publication was supported by the Bankhead-Jones special research fund. 

 It was initiated in the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils (now the Bureau of Agricultural Chemistry and 

 Engineering) and was later transferred to the Bureau of Plant Industry. 



2 The author wishes to express his appreciation to the several persons who have assisted him. Many 

 helpful suggestions were received from C. A. Browne, under whose direction the work was originally organ- 

 ized, and from Charles E . Kellogg, in charge of the Division of Soil Survey, Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 who originally proposed the study. J. A. LeClerc, of the Bureau of Agricultural Chemistry and Engineer- 

 ing, took an active part in the early stages of the work and contributed much time and effort to it. L. A. 

 Maynard, director of the United States Regional Plant, Soil, and Nutrition Laboratory, and H. G. Byers, 

 in charge of the Division of Soil Chemistry and Physics, both of the Bureau of Plant Industry, made many 

 helpful suggestions and carefully reviewed the manuscript. For her part in the translations of the Italian 

 and Spanish literature, in the systematic handling of the abstracts and cross-references (several thousand 

 such references were involved), in the compilation of the data, and in the careful reading of the manuscript 

 for verbal accuracy, the author is deeply grateful to Ruth B. Rice. The files of the Bureau of Home 

 Economics were very helpful. 



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