AMERICA 
JOURNAL OF BO 
Vol. V July, 1918 No. 7 
A NEW THREE-SALT NUTRIENT SOLUTION FOR PLANT 
CULTURES 
B. E. Livingston and W. E. Tottingham 
The majority of the nutrient solutions hitherto employed in the 
study of the salt nutrition of plants have contained four or more 
principal salts, besides the trace of a salt of iron, but the 36 different 
solutions used by Shive^ differ from the earlier ones in the fact that 
they all contain the six essential ions (besides iron) in the form of only 
three salts. These essential ions are: Ca, K, Mg, NO3, SO4 and PO4, 
and Shive put them into the solution in the form of the three salts, 
calcium nitrate (Ca(N03)2), magnesium sulphate (MgS04), and 
mono-potassium phosphate (KH2PO4). It is at once suggested that 
the six requisite ions might enter into the solution as other salts than 
the three just mentioned, and the question arises whether or not a 
suitable solution for the growth of plants might not be made with one of 
the five other possible combinations. 
The six logically possible ways by which these six essential ions 
may enter into the solution, always employing just three salts, are 
indicated by the following scheme; they are numbered serially, by 
Roman numerals. 
I 
II 
in 
IV 
V 
VI 
Ca(N03)2 
KH2PO4 
MgS04 
Ca(N03)2 
K2SO4 
Mg(H2P04)2 
Ca(H2P04)2 
KNO3 
MgS04 
Ca(H2P04)2 
K2SO4 
Mg(N03)2 
CaS04 
KNO3 
Mg(H2P04)2 
CaS04 
KH2PO4 
Mg(N03)2 
Before an adequate discussion of the salt nutritional requirements 
^ Shive, J. W. A study of physiological balance in nutrient media. Physiol. 
Res. i: 327-397. 1915. A preliminary announcement appeared as: A three-salt 
nutrient solution for plants. Amer. Journ. Bot. 2: 157-160. 1915. 
[The Journal for June (5: 279-336) was issued July 6, 19 18.] 
337 
