Zinc Deficiency of Field and 
Vegetable Crops in the West 
By FRANK G. Viets, Jr., Soil and Water Conservation Research Division, 
Agricultural Research Service 
All plants need zinc to develop and 
fruit normally. The quantity of zinc 
they demand is very small. A good 
yield of a field or vegetable crop con- 
tains from one-tenth to one-quarter 
pound of zinc per acre. This means 
that the zinc needs of such a crop 
are met by a quantity amounting to 
only one-hundredth of the same crop’s 
requirement of phosphorus (as P20;) 
and only one-thousandth of its require- 
ment of nitrogen. Even so, too little 
zinc is available in some agricultural 
soils. 
Zinc deficiency was identified in the 
midthirties as causing failure of fruit 
and nut trees to grow and produce 
normally in many irrigated areas of 
the West. More recently, it has been 
recognized on field and vegetable crops 
in both irrigated and dryland areas 
of the West. 
The Sensitive Crops 
Some crop plants show striking 
symptoms of zinc deficiency on land 
where other crop plants show none. 
The crops most frequently stunted and 
reduced in yield by shortage of avail- 
able zinc are corn, beans, castorbeans, 
sorghums, cotton, onions, tomatoes, 
hops, potatoes, and flax. Crops that 
rarely show any symptoms of such 
shortage are small grains, alfalfa, 
clovers, mint, and grasses. Sugar beets 
and some other crops are highly sensi- 
tive to zinc deficiency in some areas 
but only moderately sensitive elsewhere. 
Crops sensitive to zinc deficiency 
often show more acute symptoms of it 
when grown after sugar beets than they 
do when preceded by another crop. 
Cold, wet spring weather frequently 
intensifies their reaction. 
The Deficient Soils 
Zinc deficiency is more common 
where surface soil has been partly or 
entirely removed by erosion or by 
leveling of land for irrigation. How- 
ever, leveling does not always cause 
zinc deficiency, and undisturbed soils 
can be deficient in zinc. The deficiency 
is frequent on old corral sites. Corn 
has shown it on nonirrigated land in 
eastern South Dakota and Nebraska, 
but has not been reported to do so in 
other nonirrigated areas of the West. 
Zinc deficiency can occur in soils of 
all textures, from sand to clay. In 
Nebraska, it is more frequent in sandy 
soils. The deficient soils are more likely 
to be alkaline (that is, to have a pH 
of at least 7) than to be acid, and are 
likely to contain lime. 
A soil can contain a normal quantity 
of zinc and still be deficient in zinc 
available to plants. 
The deficiency may occur in spots 
in a field or throughout a field. 
Symptoms 
In general, the stems and leaves of 
zine-deficient plants fail to develop to 
normal size, and some of the tissues 
