Interactions and interrelationships in mineral metabolism

Individual nutrients interact with each other. Depending on their composition in the solution, a competitive situation can arise: An excess of one nutrient blocks the absorption of another (antagonism). The opposite is also possible: certain nutrients promote the uptake of other elements (synergism). Conversely, this means that if certain substances are missing or are present in too low a concentration, absorption of the desired substances is not possible at all or only incompletely.

The Table provides an overview of the most frequent Interrelationships.

1) Viets effect

On the function of calcium (Ca) in the cell wall: homogalacturonan of the pectins are bound together via Ca (= junction zones); suppresses the uptake of unwanted cations (Na+; Cd2+; Mn2+); prevents the leakage of sugars, amino acids and K+; promotes internal uptake, especially at acidic pH (Viets effect);

2) EC value

Too high a sodium value (manifested in a high EC value) can make calcium uptake more difficult or even block it completely.

Context: 

ID: 58