Molybdenum deficiency

Okta, Abelmoschus esculentus Increased growth Lettuce, Lactuca sativa Molybdenum deficiency Molybdenum sufficiency... 

B7.7 Electron-deficient molybdenum/cobalt/sulfide clusters ... 

The availability of soil Mo to plants varies with soil characteristics as well as with crop species. The ideal Mo concentration in soil solution should range between 10" and lO- M, the threshold value being 10 M, below which crop plants show Mo deficiency. Molybdenum concentrations in soil solution of about IQ- M are toxic to plants (Kubota, Lemon, and Allaway, 1963). 

Cobalt, copper, molybdenum, iodine, iron, manganese, nickel, selenium, and zinc are sometimes provided to mminants. Mineral deficiency or toxicity in sheep, especially copper and selenium, is a common example of dietary mineral imbalance (21). Other elements may be required for optimal mminant performance (22). ExceUent reviews of trace elements are available (5,22). 

Deficiency or Toxicity in Humans. Molybdenum deficiency in humans results in deranged metaboHsm of sulfur and purines and symptoms of mental disturbances (130). Toxic levels produce elevated uric acid in blood, gout, anemia, and growth depression. Faulty utiH2ation results in sulfite oxidase deficiency, a lethal inborn error. 

Soil Nutrient. Molybdenum has been widely used to increase crop productivity in many soils woddwide (see Fertilizers). It is the heaviest element needed for plant productivity and stimulates both nitrogen fixation and nitrate reduction (51,52). The effects are particularly significant in leguminous crops, where symbiotic bacteria responsible for nitrogen fixation provide the principal nitrogen input to the plant. Molybdenum deficiency is usually more prominent in acidic soils, where Mo(VI) is less soluble and more easily reduced to insoluble, and hence unavailable, forms. Above pH 7, the soluble anionic, and hence available, molybdate ion is the principal species. 

About 50% of copper in food is absorbed, usually under equitibrium conditions, and stored in the tiver and muscles. Excretion is mainly via the bile, and only a few percent of the absorbed amount is found in urine. The excretion of copper from the human body is influenced by molybdenum. A low molybdenum concentration in the diet causes a low excretion of copper, and a high intake results in a considerable increase in copper excretion (68). This copper—molybdenum relationship appears to correlate with copper deficiency symptoms in cattle. It has been suggested that, at the pH of the intestine, copper and molybdate ions react to form biologically unavailable copper molybdate (69). 

Deficiency of molybdenum cofactor can lead to sulphite oxidase deficiency (Anke and Glei 1994). 

H. Heuwinkel, E. A. Kirkby, J. Le Bot, and H. Marschner, Phosphorus deficiency enhances molybdenum uptake by tomato plants. J. Plant Niitr. 15 549 (1992). 

Soil pH is easily tested for and determines the availability of nutrients and the success of white clover. Very acid soils (below pH 5.0) will cause a deficiency of the trace elements iron, boron, copper and molybdenum and conversely will cause injury to plant growth by increasing the availability of aluminium and manganese to toxic levels. Over-liming, on the other hand, which can raise the pH above 6.5, will reduce the availability of certain essential elements such as phosphorus, manganese and boron. 

Chromium has proved effective in counteracting the deleterious effects of cadmium in rats and of vanadium in chickens. High mortality rates and testicular atrophy occurred in rats subjected to an intraperitoneal injection of cadmium salts however, pretreatment with chromium ameliorated these effects (Stacey et al. 1983). The Cr-Cd relationship is not simple. In some cases, cadmium is known to suppress adverse effects induced in Chinese hamster (Cricetus spp.) ovary cells by Cr (Shimada et al. 1998). In southwestern Sweden, there was an 80% decline in chromium burdens in liver of the moose (Alces alces) between 1982 and 1992 from 0.21 to 0.07 mg Cr/kg FW (Frank et al. 1994). During this same period in this locale, moose experienced an unknown disease caused by a secondary copper deficiency due to elevated molybdenum levels as well as chromium deficiency and trace element imbalance (Frank et al. 1994). In chickens (Gallus sp.), 10 mg/kg of dietary chromium counteracted adverse effects on albumin metabolism and egg shell quality induced by 10 mg/kg of vanadium salts (Jensen and Maurice 1980). Additional research on the beneficial aspects of chromium in living resources appears warranted, especially where the organism is subjected to complex mixtures containing chromium and other potentially toxic heavy metals. 

In terrestrial vegetation, molybdenum and sulfur interfere with copper-induced deficiencies (Gupta 1979). Copper poisoning in cattle and other ruminants is governed by dietary concentrations of molybdenum and sulfate (Lewis et al. 1967 Todd 1969 Buckley and Tait 1981 Eisler 1989). Molybdenum and sulfur in mammalian diets cause a decrease in the availability of copper because of the formation of the biologically unavailable copper-thiomolybdate complex (Aaseth and Norseth 1986). Cattle die when grazing for extended periods on pastures where the ratio of copper to molybdenum... 

Copper deficiency in humans and other mammals is characterized by slow growth, hair loss, anemia, weight loss, emaciation, edema, altered ratios of dietary copper to molybdenum and other metals, impaired immune response, decreased cytochrome oxidase activity, central nervous system histopathology, decreased phospholipid synthesis, fetal absorption, and eventually death (NAS 1977 Gallagher 1979 Kirchgessner et al. 1979 USEPA 1980 ATSDR 1990 Percival 1995). 

The first indications of interaction between copper and molybdenum came more than 40 years ago from studies of grazing cattle in certain areas of England. Afflicted animals lost weight, developed severe diarrhea, and (in extreme cases) died. The disease is sometimes called teart (rhymes with heart) or molybdenosis, and is caused by eating herbage rich in molybdenum (i.e., 20 to 100 mg/kg dry weight diet compared to <5 mg/kg in nearby healthy pastures) and low or deficient in copper and inorganic sulfate (Underwood 1979). Molybdenosis is a copper deficiency... 

They graze copper-deficient pastures containing 2 to 20 mg/kg molybdenum, and the copper to molybdenum ratio is less than 3... 

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