OVERALL ASPECTS OF PLANT ANALYSIS IN VEGETABLE PRODUCTION

In 1871 Wolff [17] wrote in the introduction to his book Analyses of Ash (Aschen-Analysen) that it is in the interest of all farmers to be oriented at all times about the nutritional condition of their soils and actually should keep book on the removal of the “fire resistant” mineral nutritients which are taken from the soil by the crops.
He further stated “there is no lack of data on all kinds of ash analyses which could be used as references, as a matter of fact there are nearly too many for the grower who often feels overwhelmed by the natural great variation of ash composition of one and the same substance”. How true is this statement to day, 100 years later.
It fits very well the subject to be discussed in this paper.

Many researches have much contributed to the knowledge of plant analyses during the last one and a half centuries.
Goodall and Gregory [8] as well as Chapman [4] have combined these results in their books on Chemical Composition of Plants respectively and Diagnostic Criteria for Plants and Soils.
Today it is generally accepted that soil analysis simulates the plant where as plant analysis gives a true picture of what is actually within the plant.
Meaningful soil test results are restricted to the elements P, K, Ca, Mg, and B while plant analyses, depending on technique, can encompass unlimited numbers of elements (sometimes more than necessary). In vegetable production a combination of soil and plant analyses seems to be essential.

Perhaps the most troublesome factor for plant analyses data

Symposium on Nutrition and Fertilization of Vegetables

E.L. Bergman

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1973.29.2