COPPER‐DEFICIENT SOILS IN SOUTH‐EAST SCOTLAND

Abstract

Summary The copper‐deficiency condition in cereals known as‘wither‐tip’has been found in a limited area in south‐east Scotland during the past ten years. This condition has been consistently associated with a low level of total copper in the surface horizon. The distribution of‘wither‐tip’and low copper content is directly related to the presence of one soil type, namely Eckford series, within the fields in question. Analysis of IOO surface soils sampled in south‐east Scotland suggests that a substantial proportion of the fields in this region are copper deficient or potentially copper deficient.