Trace element contents in leaves. Soil/leaf ratios
For primary production through photosynthesis, in addition to water and
carbon dioxide, plants require some inorganic mineral nutrients that are
taken up through the root system. In this process elements are
transferred from soil to plant and the leaf mineral composition should
reflect the complex interaction between Vitis vinifera and the
local soil composition, since it is one of main factors that limits
plant productivity and quality. The Biological Absorption Coefficient
(BAC) is the bioaccumulation of a given element and this is the ratio
between the leaf/soil concentrations (Kabatha-Pendias 2003). The BAC
values are listed in Table 4.
The modified Kabata-Pendias BAC classification (2001) was used here to
classify the major elements accumulated in the vine leaf. The elements
Ca, K, Mg and S had high BAC values (greater than 1), whereas Sr and Zn
had medium BAC values (between 0.4 and 0.7) and Ba, Pb, Cu had low
values (between 0.4 and 0.10). Finally, V and Cr had very low values
(<0.1). The BAC value obtained for Sr in this study is similar
to those reported in the scientific literature (Kabata-Pendias and
Sadurski 2004). If we compare the results obtained in other studies
carried out in Castilla-La Mancha (AmorĂ³s et al. 2012b; Bravo et al.
2017) it can be observed that the values for Sr and Zn are higher (0.56
vs. 0.28 and 0.7 vs. 0.37, respectively); the values for Ba, V, Cr and
Cu are lower (0.14 vs. 0.26; 0.06 vs. 0.16; 0.07 vs. 0.17 and 0.19 vs
1.86, respectively); while the value of Pb is similar (0.12 vs. 0.15).