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Boron Materials of Low Solubility and Their Use for Plant Growth¹

ABSTRACT

Three sources of boron including high-grade Fertilizer Borate, Colemanite and Howlite were compared as to their water-soluble boron contents, effect on plant growth and movement within the soil profile.

Based on mill-run samples, the water-soluble boron in Fertilizer Borate was 5 times greater than in Colemanite and 25 times greater than in Howlite.

Particle size had only a slight effect on the water-soluble boron recovered from Fertilizer Borate, but for Colemanite and Howlite the amount of water-soluble boron recovered was 6 to 8 times greater for finer than 80-mesh material as compared to coarser than 10-mesh material. This indicates the importance of particle size in controlling the rate of solubility of the more slowly soluble sources of boron.

Although the water-soluble boron in Fertilizer Borate, Colemanite and Howlite was in the ratio of approximately 1:5:25, the boron contents and toxicity symptoms of turnips and soybeans grown in the greenhouse in Norfolk loamy sand indicated a requirement of about twice as much Colemanite as Fertilizer Borate and 2 to 3 times as much Howlite as Colemanite to produce the same degree of toxicity.

Results of the field leaching study on Norfolk loamy sand indicate that high-grade Fertilizer Borate leached out of the topsoil very rapidly and collected in the lower zones of 8 to 16 and 16 to 24 inches. Twelve months later most of the water-soluble boron had been leached past the 2-foot depth. Howlite leached out of the topsoil slowly; the concentrations of water-soluble boron remained fairly constant for the 6 and the 12-month periods. Colemanite was found to be intermediate between the highly soluble sodium borate and the less soluble borosilicate from the standpoint of loss by leaching.

¹ Contribution from Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Ala.

² Associate soil chemists.

Received for publication December 10, 1953.