JOURNAL OF MCOLTIAL RESEARCH 
Vol. XXIII Washington, D. C., February io, 1923 No. 6 
IRON AND MANGANESE CONTENT OF CERTAIN SPECIES 
OF SEEDS 1 
By J. S. McHargue 
Research Chemist , Department of Chemistry , Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station 
The occurrence of manganese and iron in the seeds of different species 
of plants has been noted by a number of investigators. However, there 
are but few data which show the amount of each of these elements con¬ 
tained in different species of seeds. 
Headden 2 found that the amount of iron contained in the straw of 
wheat was two and one-half to six times the amount of manganese, while 
in the kernels the manganese is approximately equal to the iron and at 
the same time is higher, as a rule, than in the straw. 
More recently Jones and Bullis 3 have shown that manganese is con¬ 
tained in considerable amounts in the aerial portions of certain leguminous 
plants, and from their results they conclude that alsike clover utilizes 
manganese in larger amounts than any other legume commonly grown 
in the State of Oregon and that alfalfa makes the least use of it. 
Since the writer 4 has obtained data which show that manganese is a 
necessary nutrient in the growth of plants, it therefore becomes a matter 
of interest to make a determination of the amount of iron and, manganese 
contained in seeds of some species of plants and to correlate the 
results obtained. 
The results contained in this paper have been obtained on samples 
of seeds procured from several different parts of this country. Most of 
the samples of wheat were obtained through the courtesy of the Kansas 
and Nebraska Experiment Stations and represent some of the more 
useful varieties grown in these and other States. A few of the samples 
of wheat and oats were obtained from the Departments of Plant Breed¬ 
ing and Farm Crops at Cornell University and had been grown on the 
experimental plots at that institution. Most of the other seeds were 
obtained from a seed company at Lexington, Ky., but the localities 
in which they were grown are not known to the writer. 
The methods used in the estimation of the iron and manganese in 
the seeds were: For iron, the colorimetric thiocyanate method; 5 and 
for manganese, the colorimetric periodate method.® 
1 Accepted for publication Oct. 16, 1922. Published with the approval of the Director of the Kentucky 
Agricultural Experiment Station. 
a Headden, William P. occurrence of manganese in wheat. In Jour. Agr. Research, v. 5, p. 349- 
355* 1915- Literature cited, p. 355. 
* Jones, J. S., and Bullis, D. E. manganese in commonly grown legumes. In Jour. Indus, and 
Engin. Chem., v. 13, p. 524-525. 1921. 
4 McHargue, J. S. the role of manganese in plants. In Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., v. 44, p. 1592-1598, 
2 fig. 1922. 
5 Scott, Wilfred W., ed. standard methods of chemical analysis, p. 222. 1917. 
• Willard, Hobert H., and Greathouse, Lucien H. the colorimetric determination of manga- 
NESE by oxidation with periodate. In Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., v. 39, p. 2366-2377. 1917. Bibliog¬ 
raphy, p. 2376-2377. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
acm 
Vol. XXIII, No. 6 
Feb. 10, 1923. 
Key No. Ky.-n 
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