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Title: A SOLUTION FOR THE CATIONIC+/-BALANCE PROBLEM IN MINERAL NUTRITION STUDIES

Author
item Niedz, Randall
item Evens, Terence

Submitted to: Proceedings of Florida State Horticultural Society
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/6/2004
Publication Date: 3/1/2005
Citation: Niedz, R.P., Evens, T.J. 2005. A solution for the cationic+/-balance problem in mineral nutrition studies. Proceedings of Florida State Horticultural Society.

Interpretive Summary: Designing culture media (e.g., tissue culture media, hydroponic solutions, fertilizer mixes) for mineral nutrition studies is a complicated problem. Because salts are used (e.g., potassium nitrate) it is extremely difficult to set the concentrations of each of the mineral ions (e.g., potassium and nitrate in potassium nitrate) singly without changing the concentration of the other ion in the salt. The result of this problem is readily apparent in the scientific literature; studies that purport to study the effects of a single ion are actually confounded because multiple ion concentrations are actually changed to achieve the particular concentrations of the ion under study. How this problem is readily solved using linear programming, a technique of applied mathematics devised specifically for solving a wide range of practical, complex, resource allocation problems such as scheduling, mixing, blending, and routing is discussed.

Technical Abstract: Designing culture media for mineral nutrition studies is a complicated problem. In order to change the concentration of a single anion or cation it is generally necessary to change the complementary cat-/anion of a salt complex. Consequently, it often becomes necessary to simultaneously alter both the type and/or concentration of multiple salts to achieve a final set of media that differ only in the concentration of a single ion; when the objective is to alter the concentration of multiple ions the problem's complexity is increased exponentially. The cationic+/anionic- balance problem is easily solved by linear programming (LP), a technique of applied mathematics devised specifically for solving a wide range of practical, complex, resource allocation problems such as scheduling, mixing, blending, and routing. The cationic+/anionic- balance problem, how it is easily solved using LP techniques, and a public domain software program designed for nutrient formulation research will be presented.