Boron deficiency results in which sign?

• A. Soft tissue becoming brittle
• B. Interveinal chlorosis on young leaves
• C. Leaf curling
• D. Blossom-end rot

Answer: (A)

Boron is essential for keeping cell walls strong and for proper growth at meristems. When boron is lacking, tissues can’t form or maintain their structure, so they lose rigidity and become brittle. This leads to signs like soft, easily damaged tissues, cracks, and poor growth of new shoot and root tips. The other options point to problems typically linked with different nutrients: blossom-end rot comes from calcium deficiency affecting fruit tissues; interveinal chlorosis on young leaves is a common sign of zinc or iron issues; leaf curling can occur with several deficiencies or stressors and isn’t specific to boron. So the brittle, crack-prone tissues are the hallmark boron deficiency.