fertilizer-nutrients Antagonistic fertilizer interactions

[thegreenman]

I found this article recently and it refreshed my memory from soil science class 35 years ago.
Thought I'd share

Understanding Antagonistic and Synergistic Nutrient Interactions in Soil to Increase Yield

Antagonistic and Synergistic Nutrient Interactions in Soil | Verdesian

In the quest for increased yield, it’s essential to understand how different nutrients interact in soil to improve its overall fertility. Learn more here!

vlsci.com

What is a Synergistic Nutrient Interaction?
A synergistic nutrient interaction means the interaction between the two nutrients results in an increased yield response that is more than what would be expected of the response to each nutrient individually.

What is an Antagonistic Nutrient Interaction?
When the yield from the combined interaction of two nutrients is less than what would be expected from individual applications, it is called an antagonistic response. In both cases, the interaction between the nutrients affects the amount of nutrients available for uptake and use by the plants.

Most antagonistic reactions were between micronutrients such as Zn, copper (Cu), iron (Fe), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg). These are all cations, or positively charged molecules or atoms. One theory for this negative interaction is that these nutrients compete for the same nutrient transport pathways in plant roots. Cations and anions (negatively charged molecules or atoms) bind to different transport proteins. If all the cation-transporting proteins are already bound to Zn, for example, Cu cannot be absorbed. One strategy to avoid this problem might be to apply one of these nutrients via a different route such as foliar fertilization.

 

[danish]

Great stuff thanks. The link in the article was broken for me but I found the paper: https://www.researchgate.net/public...ergism_on_Yield_and_Fertilizer_Use_Efficiency
This is very interesting but doesn't seem to factor growth medium. IIRC mycorrhizal fungi in a soil based medium are supposed to increase nutrient pathways. However that wouldn't help with other interactions like that with calcium and nitrogen. I remember being in a daze after soil science classes trying to wrap my head around it all, hah.

 

[thegreenman]

Agree about the soil science classes. It didn't make any sense for me until I saw the models with the positive and negative charges. Then it all just clicked.