Nutritional disorders

Like many cultivated plants, salads need a variety of mineral elements to ensure their growth and produce quality products. Their short cycle and their rapid vegetative growth make their fertilization quite complex (in particular their nitrogen diet), it is notably influenced by:
- the root system of salads which is not very important and rather superficial;
- the richness and balance of the soil in fertilizing elements (soil analyzes are therefore essential);
- the type of salad grown and the variety chosen;
- the density of plantation;
- the nature of the irrigation system and its conduct;
- and any other factor disrupting plant growth.

Faced with this situation, we can sometimes meet in the field plants suffering from deficiencies or an excess of nutrients. These conditions are classified under disorders "Non-parasitic diseases" and grouped together under the terminology "Nutritional " . The latter are manifested quite frequently by yellowing of varying nature and distribution on salads. We have described in the following two topics some deficiencies sometimes encountered in salads, in order to make you aware of the symptoms that they can induce and the physiological functions that they are likely to disturb.

When we speak of deficiency, we often tend to associate true deficiencies with induced deficiencies. The true deficiencies (element in too small quantity in the soil) are more and more rare; their diagnosis visually is very difficult because, with some exceptions, the symptoms they cause are discolorations, more or less intense leaf yellowing, very difficult to assess by a non-specialist.

In the majority of cases, we are dealing with induced deficiencies (elements present but not available), which does not facilitate their diagnosis. In addition to determining the nature of the deficiency, one should also look for the cause (s). These can be various, for example poorly conducted irrigation (too much or not enough water), too low or too high a temperature or soil pH, root systems in poor condition, etc.

When you are faced with this type of symptoms, do not too hastily conclude that there is any deficiency without having spoken to your technician or consulted a specialist and having carried out the analyzes physical and chemical of the soil and the vegetation which are necessary. .

Deficiencies occur particularly in empirically fertilized crops, in the absence of soil analysis.