Differentiation in contents of major mineral elements of soybeans from different regions in China

Contents of major mineral elements(P，K，Ca，Mg，Fe，Mn，Zn，Cu．B)in 90 soybean cultivars from different regions in China are analyzed．The results suggested that the contents of some elements changed from place to place and tended to follow some regulalions．Ca in the Huanghe-Huaihe-Haihe Plain held the highest content in the country．The contents of Zn and P decreased from south to north．On the other hand,the content of B in north part was higher than that in the sooth．The content of elements generally followed the pattern of K> P>Ca> Mg> Fe>Zn> Mn> B>Cu．The content of Zn was positively corre-lated with those of P，Fe，Mg and negatively correlated with those of K ，Ca．B both in very significant leve1．The content of Mg was positively correlated with that of Mn in a significant leve1．The content of B Was significantly correlated with that of Ca in a positive way and with those of Zn and B in a negative way．