DIFFERENTIAL PERFORMANCE OF TWO BARLEY VARIETIES TO VARYING ALUMINUM CONCENTRATIONS

Abstract

In a greenhouse experiment, yields of Charlottetown 80 and Herta barley decreased with increasing rates of aluminum applied to a Caribou loam soil. The decline in yield was greater with the Herta variety. At the same time, this variety did not exhibit symptoms of aluminum toxicity as had been encountered on the same soil m field trials.A nutrient solution experiment established that Charlottetown 80 and Herta possessed a differential tolerance to aluminum and indicated that regional barley production problems were due to high concentrations of this element. Typical aluminum toxicity symptoms were encountered which appeared at lower aluminum concentrations in the Herta variety. Top and root yields of both varieties declined with increasing aluminum treatment but the effect was more pronounced with Herta.Phosphorus and calcium decreased in the tops and increased in the roots with increasing aluminum concentration. The effect was greater in Herta at intermediate aluminum concentrations than in Charlottetown 80. It was concluded that aluminium depressed the translocation of these elements within the plant rather than their adsorption by the roots.