Studies in Iron Chlorosis of Leaves

Normal healthy growth and development of plants is controlled by certain factors known as factors of plant growth. They are soil, climate, and plant inheritance. The soil contains many nutrient elements needed by plants both in macro and micro quantities. Iron is one of the essential elements required by plants in small amounts. When plants are starving for any of the essential nutrients, characteristic symptoms usually appear as certain abnormalities, discoloration and deformation of leaves, fruits, and other parts. The deficiency symptoms, though not easily recognizable in some cases at the beginning, are quite apparent in advanced stages of plant growth. The characteristic symptom of iron deficiency in plant nutrition is chlorosis. Chlorosis is a general term which denotes a lack of chlorophyll in leaves and replacement of the normal green color either wholly or in part by yellow color. In most cases the chlorosis is characterized by a distribution of the yellow color throughout the green in patterns. The more specific term, iron chlorosis, refers to chlorosis due to iron deficiency in the plant and which can be alleviated by providing the plant with suitable iron compounds.