Soil zinc and its uptake by plants. I. Isotopic exchange equilibria and the application of tracer techniques. II. Soil chemistry in relation to prediction of availability

Abstract

Isotopic exchange studies were applied to the laboratory and glasshouse measurement of labile zinc in 25 soils from nine Great Soil Groups. The laboratory equilibration procedures worked well with acidic and most near neutral soils, but may overestimate labile zinc values for the lateritic podzolic soils. The values for some acidic soils were also compromised because of lack of isotopic equilibrium. The laboratory method gave erratic and unrealistic data when applied to alkaline soils due to fixation of the added zinc. The procedures based on the specific activity of zinc absorbed by plants from soils equilibrated with carrier-free 65Zn gave reproducible values of the total amount of plant available zinc for all soils. These values agree well with the corresponding laboratory data for acidic soils. Furthermore, the specific activity data showed that magnesium chloride and EDTA extractions had equilibrated with the same chemical form or forms of zinc as that absorbed by the plants.