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Uptake of Molybdenum from Everglades Peat by Several Grasses and by White Clover¹

ABSTRACT

The problem of molybdenum toxicity to livestock in forage grown on Everglades peat, in practice, is met by application of copper to the soil, by copper in the mineral supplement fed to cattle and by copper drenching of severely affected cattle. The present study reports the molybdenum content of several grasses and clover that are grown in the area. Samples of clover from several fields are found to have about the same molybdenum content as the grass herbages. There is considerable variability in the molybdenum content of the different grasses tested on the Everglades peat. Kentucky 31 fescue, Pensacola Bahia, St. Augustine, Pangola and Coastal Bermuda grass, and white clover contained about 0.1 to 0.3 ppm. Mo in pot studies on unlimed peat, and 0.4 to 0.8 ppm. Mo on limed peats under greenhouse conditions. Under field conditions, the molybdenum content of these same herbages was considerably greater. Species taken from corresponding locations showed small variation in molybdenum content during the growing season when the pasture was well established, but initial samples taken at the time of the establishment of the pasture were much higher. On sandy soils, both Pangola grass and clovers showed a much higher molybdenum content for considerable periods after molybdenum fertilization, but no increase in yields. The molybdenum content of clover appears adequate where the soil has been limed. High fertilization of the pastures on peats and mucks high in molybdenum, followed by removal of the hay, and feeding the cattle on low molybdenum areas is suggested both to provide drier forage and to prevent return of the molybdenum to the pasture by manure and urine.

¹ Florida Agr. Exp. Sta. Journal Series, No. 339. Presented before Div. IV-A, Soil Science Society of America, St. Paul, Minn., Nov. 10, 1954.

² Soil Chemist, Assistant Biochemist, Florida Agr. Exp. Sta., Gainesville; Fulbright Exchange Fellow from University of Salonica, Greece, respectively.

Received for publication November 30, 1954.