Broccoli - Shortening of internodes
Symptoms
Zn deficiency results in stunted growth with shortened internodes.
Reasons
Zinc deficiency (right)
Zn deficencies are more common on high pH or calcareous soils or during cold, wet weather. Symptoms are more intense where soil temperatures are low and growing conditions are slow.
Zinc deficiency made worse by
- Organic soils
- High pH soils
- Soils rich in phosphorus
- Soils receiving high phosphorus application
- Cold wet conditions
Zinc is important for
- Structural and functional element of many enzymes
- Important for internode elongation and photosynthesis
- Increases sugar and Vitamin C contents
- Higher stress tolerance
