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The Influence of Soil Temperature on the Growth and Mineral Composition of Corn, Bromegrass and Potatoes¹

ABSTRACT

When grown with different nutrient treatments in temperature-controlled soil in the greenhouse, yields of corn and bromegrass tops increased with increments in temperature from 41° to 80° F., but yields of potato tops and tubers showed a less consistent relationship with temperature. Yields of corn and bromegrass roots also increased with temperature except for a decline in bromegrass roots when temperature was increased from 67° to 80° F. Tuber yields were usually higher at soil temperatures above 41° F., but the optimum temperature varied with nutrient treatment.

The nutrient composition of the crops showed few consistent trends in relation to soil temperature. The P content of bromegrass and potato tops, however, increased with rising temperatures when the plants were grown without added P. Uptake of N, P, Ca, Mg and K by the crops usually increased with increasing temperature to at least 67° F. The uptake of P by the plants without addition of the nutrient, relative to the uptake obtained with addition, increased almost invariably with each increment in temperature. Water-use efficiency usually increased where N, P and K were added together and often decreased as soil temperatures increased.

¹ Contribution No. 22, Soil Research Institute, Research Branch, Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, Ontario.

² Head, Soil Section, Farm, Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

³ Present address: Plant Research Institute, Research Branch, Canada Dept. of Agr., Ottawa, Ontario.

Received for publication November 7, 1961. Accepted for publication February 10, 1961.