Some soil-plant and root-shoot relationships of copper,zinc and manganese in white clover and perennial ryegrass

Summary White clover and perennial ryegrass were grown separately, in pots maintained under controlled environment conditions, for a period of 7 months on ten soils. The proportion of the total soil content of each element taken up by the ryegrass, including that in roots, ranged from 0.88 to 2.18% for Cu, from 0.82 to 2.80% for Zn and from 0.25 to 3.15% for Mn. Uptake by the clover was within these ranges for Cu and Zn, but ranged from 0.10 to 1.71% for Mn.After adjustment for the effects of soil contamination, the ratio of root concentration: shoot concentration was always greater than 1 for both Cu and Zn, and for Cu, though not for Zn, it was considerably greater with ryegrass than with clover. For Mn, the ratio of root:shoot concentration was often greater than 1, and differences between clover and grass were not consistent.Concentrations of Cu and Zn in the shoots were always greater in the clover than in the grass, but concentrations of Mn were generally greater in the grass than the clover.