Manganese Deficiency Symptoms / Three Major Nutrient Test and Compost Application

Manganese Deficiency Symptoms

This is a true story that occurred in Hyogo Prefecture. In an area of Kobe City’s Nishi Ward known for the cultivation of tender leafy vegetables, many farmers began to experience yellowing of garland chrysanthemum (shungiku) leaves, a condition commonly known as “framing disorder.” Due to nearby land improvement projects, the farmers’ fields were relatively new, and most of them were well aware of the importance of compost, each having established their own compost storage facilities on their land. Since the region is close to the production area of Kobe beef, cattle manure was readily available. The farmers were also well informed about the harmful effects of applying fresh cattle manure compost directly to vegetables, so they produced fully matured compost themselves. Confident in the quality of their compost, they applied it two to three times a year during the growing seasons of tender vegetables, which allowed for as many as nine harvests annually. For about three years after the land improvement, production went smoothly. However, after that, “framing disorder” began to spread widely among many farmers.
This region is a major peri-urban agricultural production area, so the agricultural experiment station naturally assigned staff members and soil and fertilizer specialists to investigate. Although the responsible personnel were replaced every two to three years, even after seven or eight years of research, the cause could not be identified. However, once Mr. Kosuke Nagai, a specialist in food processing with strong skills in chemical analysis, took charge, he diagnosed the problem as manganese (Mn) deficiency within about two months, and found that foliar spraying of manganese could prevent the occurrence of symptoms. Because he was not a soil and fertilizer specialist, he did not cling to conventional soil analysis results from his own field, and this turned out to be beneficial. When soil and fertilizer experts collect soil samples in the field, bring them back to the laboratory, air-dry and finely grind them for analysis, the microorganisms containing manganese that were present in fresh soil die, and large amounts of manganese are released. The reason the cause had remained unknown for so long was that these artificially altered values were treated as standard analytical results. Professor Koiwai, a leading figure in organic agriculture and proponent of the BLOF theory introduced in Chapter 1, Section 6, employs fresh-soil analysis methods.
Dr. Marschner, whom we plant nutrition scientists greatly respect, has proposed that plants suffering from manganese deficiency contain higher levels of linoleic acid, which is unfavorable for human healthy longevity. Manganese deficiency occurs as a result of excessive compost application. The importance of dietary oils is discussed in detail by Professor Harumi Okuyama, the first president of the Japan Society for Lipid Nutrition. Readers are encouraged to study his work carefully.