Summary
1. Iron which is shown to be present as a contaminant on leaf surfaces of tomato can be removed completely by washing the leaves for 30 sec in 0.3% “teepol” and water followed by a 30 sec rinsing in distilled water.
2. By using radioactive iron it is shown that there was no loss of the metal from within the plants during leaf washing. Agreement between chemical and radioassay data for iron showed that the metal was completely removed by the wash procedure.
3. In tomato grown in the glasshouse consistent differences between the iron contents of normal and chlorotic leaves were obtained after leaf washing. When the plants were grown in a dustproof chamber differences in iron status of green and chlorotic leaves were obtained without washing.
4. Added radioactive and carrier iron was fully recovered from acid digests of a variety of plant material, specially chosen to represent a range of silica contents.
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Nicholas, D.J.D., Lloyd-Jones, C.P. & Fisher, D.J. Some problems associated with determining iron in plants. Plant Soil 8, 367–377 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01666325
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01666325