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Fresh green corn plants with visible roots cutaway.
Cristie Preston, Ph.D.

There is a common misconception that if a nutrient is mobile within the soil, it is also mobile or can be translocated within the plant. The mobility of a nutrient in the soil is associated with how much can be leached – nitrate or sulfate, for example – or move with water. A good example of a nutrient that is immobile in soil is phosphorus.

The mobility of a nutrient within the plant determines where nutrient deficiency symptoms show up. Mobile nutrients in plant tissue, like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, can be translocated to newly developing leaves and growing portions of the plant and therefore, result in deficiency symptoms in the lower, older leaves. Immobile nutrients are unable to be translocated, so when nutrient supply is low, the new growth is where the deficiency symptoms occur.

Generalized diagram showing the portion of the plant where nutrient deficiency symptoms are first observed. Adapted 4R Plant Nutrition Manual, IPNI 2012

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