⚛️Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient required for plant growth. It is the second most limiting macronutrient after nitrogen (N).
🌱Phosphorus is important for stimulating root and shoot growth and promoting vigorous seedling growth.
🍃It is involved in many metabolic functions and plays a critical role in energy reactions, such as in photosynthesis and respiration.
🌽The nutrient also plays a vital role in plant reproduction, of which grain production is an important result.
✔️Adequate P for corn results in increased root growth, greater stalk strength, improved crop quality, uniform and earlier crop maturity, and higher grain production.
📉However, inadequate P nutrition delays plant maturity and reduces yields.
🔎Phosphorus deficiency in plants can be visually identified at the early vegetative stage as an abnormally dark green or reddish purple color along the edge of the lower plant leaves.
📌Most phosphorus deficiencies are observed in low pH soils (pH < 5) or in fields with low soil test phosphorus value. Dry soil conditions also can induce phosphorus deficiency in young plants.
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