Wilhelm Knop
Born(1817-07-28)28 July 1817
Altenau, Lower Saxony, Germany
Died28 January 1891(1891-01-28) (aged 73)
Leipzig, Germany
NationalityGerman
Alma materUniversity of Göttingen
Known forKnop's solution
Hoagland and Knop medium
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Göttingen
University of Heidelberg
University of Leipzig

Wilhelm Knop (28 July 1817 – 28 January 1891) was a German agrochemist and co-founder of modern water culture. Alongside Julius von Sachs, he identified nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron as essential elements for plant nutrition.[1] Knop and von Sachs pioneered the use of standardized nutrient solutions in experimental plant physiology.[2]

Knop's solution, which consists of his four-salt mixture and traces of an iron salt, is still commonly used in plant biology today.[3] Dennis Robert Hoagland and Daniel Israel Arnon proposed that Sachs' solution (1860), Knop's solution (1865), Pfeffer's solution (1900), and Crone's solution (1902)[4] should be supplemented with boron, manganese, zinc, copper and molybdenum for best results with water culture experiments.[5]

For Knop, the cultivation of crops in nutrient solutions was primarily a method for discovering scientific laws, a principle shared by Dennis Hoagland. For determining the effectiveness of mineral fertilizers, he regarded the field experiment as the authoritative method of investigation. The names of Hoagland and Knop are commonly used as a brand for an innovative product, namely the Hoagland and Knop Medium, which has been specially formulated for plant cell, tissue and organ cultures on agar.[6]

References

  1. ^ Marschner, Horst (1995). Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. ISBN 0-12-473543-6.
  2. ^ Hewitt E. J. (1966). Sand and Water Culture Methods Used in the Study of Plant Nutrition. Farnham Royal, England: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, pp. 547. Technical Communication No. 22 (Revised 2nd Edition) of the Commonwealth Bureau of Horticulture and Plantation Crops.
  3. ^ Mehta, P.; Jajoo, A.; Mathur, S.; Barthi, S. (2010). "Chlorophyll a fluorescence study revealing effects of high salt stress on Photosystem II in wheat leaves". Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. 48 (1): 16–20. doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2009.10.006. PMID 19932973.
  4. ^ Benecke, W. (1909). "Die von der Cronesche Nährsalzlösung" (PDF). Zeitschrift für Botanik. 1: 235–252.
  5. ^ Hoagland & Arnon (1938). The water-culture method for growing plants without soil (Circular (California Agricultural Experiment Station), 347. ed.). Berkeley, Calif.: University of California, College of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station. OCLC 12406778.
  6. ^ Alsuwayyid, A.A.; Alslimah, A.S.; Perveen, K.; Bukhari, N.A.; Al-Humaid, L.A. (2022). "Effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles on Triticum aestivum L. and bioaccumulation assessment using ICP-MS and SEM analysis". Journal of King Saud University – Science. 34 (4). doi:10.1016/j.jksus.2022.101944.


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