The molybdenum content of West Virginia soils

West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry ExperimentStation Bulletins Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources And Design 1-1-1960 The molybdenum content of West Virginia soils Char

West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiment

Station Bulletins

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources

And Design

1-1-1960

The molybdenum content of West Virginia soils

Charles B Sperow

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Sperow, Charles B., "The molybdenum content of West Virginia soils" (1960) West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiment

Station Bulletins 443.

https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/wv_agricultural_and_forestry_experiment_station_bulletins/419

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BULLETIN 443 AUGUST 1960

of

THE AUTHOR

Valley Experiment Station at Point Pleasant,

Sta-tion.

Morgantown

The Molybdenum Content of

MOLYBDENUM is one of the latestelements to be classified as

essen-tial to normal plant growth When insufficient amounts are

avail-able in the soil, plants may suffer from molybdenum deficiency.

soils containing excessive available molybdenum may produce forage

that, under certain conditions, may be toxic when consumed by grazing animals (2) .

field deficiencies have occurred in at least thirteen states.

occur-rence of molybdenum deficiency in certain varieties of cauliflower grown

content of someof the more important soil series ofWest Virginia

Eighty soil samples were analyzed for their total molybdenum

con-tent. Thesesamples represented 30 soil series and were collected from 26 countiesin the State.

Soil samples were collected by stall members of the Department of

fertilizer, lime, or farm manure during their known history. Most of the samples came from woodland, fence rows, idle fields, or untreated

'Unpublished Data, West Virginia University Agricultural Experiment Station, 1952.

Samples were prepared

topass through 97-meshsilk boltingcloth. Duplicate analysesweremade

ofeach sample, and all results are the averageof these analyses Analyses were made byfusing thesoilsamples with sodium carbonate followed by

(6) and chemical determination following the method outlined by Prince (5).

Results

given inTable 1. Thesoil groupingused here isan arbitraryone, group-ingsoils accordingto their parent material Molybdenum content of the

individual samplesis givenin theAppendix

Theover-all average for thesoilsanalyzed was found to be 1.76 ppm total molybdenum.

parent material, were far above average in total molybdenum content

total molybdenum.

influenced alluvium, wasalso high in total molybdenum. In general the

bottomland soils strongly reflect the influence of the upland soils which

supplied their parent material The samples of the Pope series were all

low in total molybdenum, as were theupland soils with which the Pope

is associated. The Moshannon series, developed on alluvium principally

The soils derived from the tilted sandstone, siltstones, and shales

of the Ridge and Valley Province of the eastern part of the State were

muchlower than averageintotalmolybdenum content As a group these

soilscontained less than one-half as much total molybdenum as thesoils

derived from limestone parent material Almost all of the individual

soils in this group were very low in total molybdenum and appeared to

total molybdenum, thelowest of any sample analyzed

The Berks series, because it is found in association with the

all like the other soils developed on the tilted formations There were

Table Molybdenum Content of West Virginia Soils ppm Total

Molybdenum

Soil Series No of Samples

Range

I Well-drained, upland soils of the Limestone Valley

A. From limestone

11

2.20

B. From shale

II Well-drained, upland soils of the Ridge and Valley Province

Litz 2 0.84 0.92 0.88

18

0.98 1.04

III Well-drained, upland soils of the Allegheny Plateau

A. From limestone and shale

5

2.78 3.14 2.96

2.56

B. From sandstone and shale

24

1.30 2.70 2.15

1.57

IV Miscellaneous

8

0.85 1.50 1.11

1.69

B Planosols

Tilsit 3

4

1.26

C Terrace soils

4

1.30 2.91 2.10

1.87

*Subsoil sample.

ppm molybdenum. Because of the highmolybdenum content the one sample, several additional samples were collected and analyzed These

all fell within the extremesof theoriginal samples

Microscopicexamination ofindividual shale particles screened from

this soil revealed small seams of a black or very dark mineral These

onecontaininga large amountofthe dark mineral and designated "high impurity," and one containing a small amount of the dark mineral and

designated "low impurity." A sample of shale particles containing no

were made The "high impurity," "low impurity," and shale particles

contained 18.20, 5.55,and 1.28 ppm molybdenum, respectively The high

part, to the presence of minerals containing concentrations of

any of the Berks soil samples

Discussion

It is impossible to state precisely where deficiencies might be found

on the basis of a soil analysis for total molybdenum Knowledge of the

total molybdenum content of the soil does give a picture of the

poten-tial supply of the mineral present On the basis of the 80 soil samples analyzed only afew areaswere sufficientlylow in total molybdenum that

total molybdenum), molybdenum is probably not the limiting factor

for plant growth on these soils. Their low productivity is probably due

soils are generally developed on steep topography from materials high

supply is relativelylow However,in areas where production is increased

supply might become limiting in arelatively short period of time Lime

The Ashby soil from Mercer County approaches very closely the

de-ficiency occurs regardless of pH. Several other soils approach the range

of expected deficiency However, in all cases, lime or some other factor

is likely to be more limiting than molybdenum. In order to get a large

more limiting than lime or other factors which might limit production Suchdoes not appear to bethe case underWest Virginiaconditions The

addition of lime results in an increase in availability of a number of

solubility, and hence the availability, of elements which may be toxic to

not change the availability of any other element

Soils that are low in total molybdenum and are fairly productive

mentioned above The Pope series, particularly the sandy type,

in total molybdenum content but is generally considered above average

ma-terial, little molybdenum would be added from this source Over a

to cause a deficiency

considerably less total molybdenum than two of theBerks samples

How-ever, the toxicities occurred on poorly- or imperfectly-drained soils with

a neutral to strongly alkaline reaction Under these conditions a large

portion of the total molybdenum would exist in a water-soluble state It

is very doubtful that sufficient molybdenum would become available in the Berks soil to produce toxic forage

Summary and Conclusions

Eighty soil samples, representing 30 important soil series in West

The average molybdenum content of these soils was 1.76 ppm total

parent material and the finer-textured soils were generally above average

in total molybdenum The coarser-textured soils and those derived from

the tilted sandstones, siltstones, and shales of the Ridge and Valley

Province were below average in total molybdenum The total

County

Most of the soils analyzed contained sufficient, but not excessive, total molybdenum The total molybdenum content was lower than

of the State, particularly the Ashby, Litz, Lehew, Ungers, and Calvin

series, and in some of the coarser-textured soil types, particularly of the Dekalb, Wellston, and Pope series.

Some samples of the Berks series contained relatively high amounts

ex-pected except under exceptional conditions

References

1 Anderson, A. J., "Lime and Molybdenum in Clover Development on Acid Soils."

Aust Jour Agr Res., 3:95-110 (1952).

2 Dick, A T., "Molybdenum in Animal Nutrition." Soil Science, 81:229-236 (1956).

Agric. W Australia, 25:412-418 (1950).

4 Evans, H J., Purvis, E R., and Bear, R.E., "Molybdenum Nutrition of Alfalfa."

Plant Physiol., 25:555-556 (1951).

5 Prince, A L., Chemistry of the Soil Edited byF E Bear,Reinhold Publishing

Com-pany, New York, 1955.

6 Robinson, W O. and Edgington, G., "Availability of Soil Molybdenum as Shown

by the Molybdenum Content of Many Different Plants." Soil Science, 77:237-251

(1954).

7 Robinson, W C, Edgington, C, Arminger, W H., and Breen, A V., "Availability

of Molybdenum as Influenced By Liming," Soil Science, 72:267-274 (1951).

8 Rubins, E.J., "Molybdenum Deficiencies in the United States," Soil Science,

81:191-197 (1956).

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