[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #373
Luca Specchio asked:
>1) The FeEDTA or any other chelated micronutrients (such as Zn, Cu, Mn
>etc.) can be adsorbed by plants withOUT waiting that link between EDTA and
>Fe is broken? I suppose they can.
A text book sitting on my bookshelves (_Soil Science_, R G McLaren & K
C Cameron, 1990, Oxford University Press, Auckland) shows metals such
as iron, manganese, copper etc. being taken up by plants as the
divalent ionic form only (eg Fe2+ etc.). I suspect that a
metal/chelate complex molecule is too large to pass through the cell
membranes of the plant. No reason to suspect that this doesn't apply
under water as well.
Presumably as ionic iron etc is taken up by plant roots it
is replaced by iron being released from the chelated form by shifts
in equilibria. Of course, whether that replacement process is fast
enough to satisfy impatient aquarists.....
Don't forget that the anaerobic environment around the roots in the
substrate will result in some unoxidised iron being present which can
be taken up.
If there are any soil scientists on the group they may like to
comment.
Nick Miller
Rotorua, New Zealand