Sulfur plant deficiency symptoms

Plants deficient in sulfur are smaller than normally developed plants. If the deficiency occurs at an earlier stage, the plants are stunted and have a rigid, erect appearance. Some sulfur-deficiency symptoms observed in, for example, the Dark Yellow Fuji Mefo chrysanthemum, included branchless roots that aged earlier, shorter stems, smaller leaves and overall yellowing of new leaves. Without sulfur, plants did not produce flowers suitable for commercial sale (Huang et al. 1997). 

Mineral deficiency strongly affects the development of leaves and of the photosynthetic apparatus. We were interested to know whether carbon flux is more restricted in mineral deficient leaves by the thylakoid system or the Calvin cycle. Spinach was grown under mineral deficiency as shown in Tab. 1. Leaves of different age were detached and photosynthesis and F was measured. Rates of photosynthesis were on a unit leaf area basis consistently higher in the control leaves than in leaves deficient in phosphorus, sulfur or nitrogen. Sulfur and old nitrogen deficient leaves were chlorotic. F was increased under all deficiency conditions and particularly so in old leaves of phosphate and nitrogen starved plants and in young leaves of sulfur-deprived plants. The increase in F clearly correlated with the development of pronounced deficiency symptoms and reduced rates of photosynthesis. The data indicate that mineral deficiency introduces flux limitations in the Calvin cycle. 

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