This Saskatchewan Crop Diagnostic Handbook section covers general soil fertility diagnostics; corn/soybean-specific micronutrient content is limited to a few reference tables and general principles. Nutrient removal/uptake tables give micronutrient removal per bushel of grain: for corn, 0.015 lb B, 0.012 lb Cu, and 0.089 lb Zn (no Mn/Fe values reported); for soybean, 0.174 lb B, 0.075 lb Cu, and 0.22 lb Zn. A general nutrient-properties table lists micronutrient plant-available forms, soil/plant mobility, and typical fertilizer sources: B (H3BO3/BO3-, immobile in plant, very mobile in soil, sources include borax/sodium tetraborate), Cu (Cu2+, immobile in plant and soil, copper sulfate/EDTA chelate), Fe (Fe2+/Fe3+, immobile, ferrous/ferric sulfate), Cl (mobile), Mn and Zn (immobile in plant; Mn mobile in soil, Zn immobile), Mo (mobile). Deficiency symptoms for all micronutrients except Mo and Cl appear first in young/new leaves.

Recommendations: the handbook advises that diagnosing micronutrient deficiency from visual symptoms alone is difficult even for trained agronomists, and multiple lines of evidence — field symptoms, plant tissue tests, soil tests, comparative unaffected-vs-affected sampling, test strips, and cropping history — should be combined before recommending a micronutrient application, since a single indicator is not considered reliable. Soil pH strongly influences availability: strongly alkaline soils reduce the relative availability of iron, manganese, copper, and zinc, so pH should be checked alongside nutrient testing when deficiency is suspected. The handbook does not provide crop-specific application rates, thresholds, or corn/soybean deficiency symptom descriptions beyond these general principles; growers are directed to submit paired soil/tissue samples from affected and unaffected field areas to a testing laboratory for a definitive diagnosis rather than relying on visual assessment alone.