Effect of Liming and Flooding on Manganese Toxicity in Alfalfa

Incubation and greenhouse studies showed that regardless of soil pH, flooding increased the content of exchangeable Mn and the Mn content of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) grown in a Kellner loamy sand. In the absence of a source of easily decomposable organic matter, Mn mobilization by flooding was considerably slower at a soil pH of 4.7 than at 7.3. Where alfalfa was grown in the soil or where finely milled oat straw was added, flooding mobilized more Mn in the acid than in the neutral soils. Liming promoted immobilization of Mn on the resumption of normal soil moisture relations after flooding. Seventy-two hours of flooding increased the Mn content of the alfalfa on the unlimed soil from 426 ppm to more than 6,000 ppm. Excess Mn tended to accumulate in the leaves and growing points of the plants. The results suggest that the well-known susceptibility of alfalfa to Mn toxicity may also account for its sensitivity to poorly aerated soils.