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Agriculture vocabulary · Plant Nutrition and Fertilizers

Nutrient deficiency

Meaning in agriculture, with examples

nounCommon term

In agriculture, nutrient deficiency means: A condition in which a plant does not get enough of a particular nutrient, shown by symptoms such as yellow leaves, poor growth or low yield.

In Turkish: besin elementi noksanlığı, besin eksikliği

How it is used

Agronomists diagnose, correct and prevent deficiencies, often naming the nutrient: nitrogen deficiency, iron deficiency. Symptoms are described by where they appear, on old or young leaves, and by their pattern, such as yellowing between the veins.

Example sentences

  1. Yellowing of the older leaves points to a nutrient deficiency, most likely nitrogen.

  2. A leaf analysis confirmed the nutrient deficiency before the symptoms got worse.

Common collocations

  • nitrogen deficiency
  • iron deficiency
  • deficiency symptoms
  • correct a deficiency
  • leaf analysis
  • micronutrientA nutrient that plants need only in very small amounts but cannot grow normally without, such as iron, zinc, manganese, copper, boron and molybdenum.
  • NPKNitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), the three main plant nutrients; also the three numbers on a fertilizer bag that show how much of each it contains.
  • soil analysisA laboratory test of soil samples that measures nutrients, pH, organic matter, lime, salinity and texture, used as the basis for fertilizer recommendations.
  • soil pHA measure of how acidic or alkaline a soil is, on a scale from 0 to 14; it affects which nutrients plants can take up.
  • top-dressTo spread fertilizer on the surface of a field where a crop is already growing, usually nitrogen in spring for cereals.

More terms: Plant Nutrition and Fertilizers

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