Pathways of symptom development in plant

At the beginning in plant, it would appear that the distinction of deficiency symptoms for the total thirteen (13) known essential mineral nutrients is relatively simple. But such an assumption is incorrect; the deficiency symptoms in plant are quite complex because each nutrient has a number of different biological functions and each function may have an independent set of interactions with a wide range of environmental parameters. The expression of these symptoms varies for different conditions such as acute or chronic deficiency. Acute deficiency takes place when a nutrient is suddenly no longer available to a rapidly growing plant, while chronic deficiency occurs when there is a limited but continuous supply of a nutrient, at a rate that is insufficient to meet the growth demands of the plant.

In natural systems, the plant encounters many degrees as well as types of stresses that result in the different types of symptoms which occur over time. However, the most common nutrient deficiency associated with the natural environments is the case of a limited nutrient supply that is continuously renewed at a low rate from soil weathering processes. In such cases, the limited nutrient availability results in chronic nutrient deficiency symptoms.