NUTRIENT INTERACTION IN LEAVES, SHOOTS, AND EARS IN WHEAT AT FLOWERING

Winter wheat was grown in Mitscherlich pots on soils obtained from 12 fields from the provinces of Salamanca, Valladolid, and Zamora (Spain) . The pots were fertilized with eight fertilizer treatments which were combinations of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potasium, and the crop was watered as necessary. Plants were harvested at flowering and plants we re divided into different parts: leaves, ears, and the remaining veget ative matter. Dry weight was recorded and the mineral content determin ed. The relationships between the elements were fitted into straight l ine, potential, logarithmic, inverse, and quadratic functions. The res ults showed less relationship among elements in the leaf and their hom ologous in the shoot than among elements in the leaf and their homolog ous in the ears, although the former had greater significance especial ly for the cations. The potential function quantifies the relationship of the leaf-shoot satisfactorily except for nitrogen and potassium fo r which potential and inverse, respectively, was the best fit. The int eraction between mineral elements within the leaves is expressed bette r by the second degree equations and by the straight line equations as compared to the others.