IPNI has announced the winners of the 2013 Crop Nutrient Deficiency Photo Contest. We are pleased to note that photo submissions were once again strong across all categories and many excellent photos were received from around the globe. Our judges were faced with many tough choices on deciding which entries would gain top honors. In the majority of cases, preference was given to those well-photographed entries that provided a good representation of the impact of the deficiency to the plant, adequate soil and/or plant tissue nutrient analyses information, and some details concerning current or historical fertilization at the site.
IPNI extends our congratulations to all winners and we thank all entrants for submitting images to our annual contest. We encourage all to please check back with the contest website maintained at www.ipni.net/photocontest for details on submitting your fresh entries for 2014!
Best Overall Photo
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Grand Prize (USD 200): Phosphorus (P) Deficiency in Guava
N.D. Yogendra, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India, captured this image of P deficiency in three-year old guava plants (var. Lalith) grown in a P-deficient soil at the Regional Horticulture Research and Extension Center. Available (Bray) P content in the soil was quite low (less than 0.9 mg P/kg). Leaf tissue analysis also recorded a low value of 0.065% and Zn concentration was 2.524%. The purpling of Guava leaf tissues was due to the accumulation of reddish-purple anthocyanin pigments.
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Nitrogen
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1st Prize (USD 150): N-Deficient Coconut
P. Malathi, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India, provided this shot of N deficiency in coconut. Yellowing of older leaves was noticed in two-year old coconut trees with low soil available nitrogen content of 188 kg /ha and total leaf N content of 0.78%.
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Runner-up (USD 75) - N-Deficient Rice – Gopal Ramdas Mahajan, Indian Council of Agricultural Research Complex, Goa, India, captured a field image of N-deficient rice plants showing yellowing of older leaves followed by younger ones. During the later stages of rice growth, drying of leaf tips was observed. The image was captured from the experiments on organic rice cultivation. Only farmyard manure (FYM) was applied to the rice crop using N equivalent concept. Lab analysis showed an N content of 0.32% and chlorophyll concentration of 0.64 gram per fresh leaf weight in the youngest fully expanded leaf of this crop. Comparatively, the healthy plant leaves that received both FYM and fertilizer N had 2.7% N content.
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Phosphorus
Runner-Up (USD 75) P-Deficient Maize – K.M. Sellamuthu, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India, shot this close-up showing P deficiency in hybrid maize (var. CP 808). The deficiency symptoms were observed in 30 day-old maize plants with poor root growth. Soil was acidic (pH 5.3) with low available P (Bray-P) content of 9 kg/ha. Total P content in the leaf tissue was 0.11%.
Potassium
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1st Prize (USD 150): K-Deficient Corn
Manbir Kaur Rakkar, North Dakota State University, Fargo, USA, submitted this classic example of K deficiency in corn (var. Pioneer 4086) at V8-V9 growth stage showing chlorosis of outer edges of older leaves. This photo was taken from an experimental plot that received 33.62 kg K/ha. Soil analysis showed 50 ppm K, while plant analysis recorded the plant tissue K at 0.41%.
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Runner-up (USD 75) K-Deficient Bt Cotton – Jeyakumar Prabhakaran, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India, shot this characteristic example of K deficiency in Bunny Bt cotton (var. NCS 145) with marginal scorching and reddening of matured leaves. The leaf K content was 1.22%, which was significantly lower than the required K content of 2-3%.
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Other
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1st Prize (USD 150): Iron (Fe) Deficiency in Cowpea
K.M. Sellamuthu, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India, provided this example of Fe deficiency in a 30-day-old cowpea crop. Cowpea leaves exhibited interveinal iron chlorosis in younger leaves. The experimental soil was a black calcareous soil with low DTPA-extractable Fe of 1.7 mg/kg. Leaf Fe content was 90 mg/kg.
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Runner-up (USD 75) Iron (Fe) Deficiency in Guava – K. Venkatesan, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India, submitted this interesting case of Fe deficiency in guava. The deficiency symptoms first appeared in younger leaves as interveinal chlorosis followed by complete chlorosis and then turning into papery white color in severe cases. The soil pH was characteristically high and no micronutrients were applied. The Fe content of a deficient young leaf was 15 ppm, while it was 79 ppm for a healthy leaf.
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Now Available: IPNI Crop Nutrient Deficiency Collection in Multiple Languages
Each year, the best examples of crop nutrient deficiency are gathered from the IPNI Crop Nutrient Deficiency Photo Contest and are added to the comprehensive assortment of hundreds of classic cases of crop nutrient deficiency documented from research plots and farm fields located around the world.
Click here for more details on obtaining a copy of this collection. The collection now has almost 500 images of very high quality.
