Contribution of iron associated with high-molecular-weight substances to the maintenance of the SPAD value of young leaves of barley under iron-deficient conditions

Abstract

In higher plants, it is well known that the retranslocation of iron from old leaves to young leaves is difficult; as a result, iron deficiency leads to interveinal chlorosis, particularly in the young leaves. However, in the case of barley, young chlorotic leaves can grow under conditions of long-term iron deficiency. Previously, we have reported that the distribution and retranslocation characteristics of iron in barley may be better adapted to iron deficiency than those in rice. Furthermore, barley maintained a relatively high chlorophyll index (SPAD value) even when its iron content was not higher than that of rice. In this study, we aimed to predict the chemical form of iron that contributes to the physiologically available iron in barley leaves. To examine the correlation between plant growth and the SPAD value with the amount of fractionated iron, we cultured plant materials in a culture solution containing various iron concentrations. We compared these correlations among barley, rice and sorghum and among three barley cultivars. To compensate for the amount of mugineic acid phytosiderophores (MAs) in the culture solution, we cultured different plant species in the same container. The results revealed that the amount of soluble iron associated with the high-molecular-weight substances (MW >10,000) correlated with the SPAD value of the young barley leaves and the R2 value (determination coefficient) of barley was higher than the values of rice and sorghum.