Ionic balance, proton efflux, nitrate reductase activity and growth ofHippophaë rhamnoides L. ssp.rhamnoides as influenced by combined-N nutrition or N2 fixation

Abstract

Growth of 2-month-old nonnodulatedHippophae rhamnoides seedlings supplied with combined N was compared with that of nodulated seedlings grown on zero N. Plant growth was significantly better with combined N than with N2 fixation and, although not statistically significant for individual harvests, tended to be highest in the presence of NH 4 + , a mixture of NH 4 + and NO 3 − producing the highest yields. Growth was severely reduced when solely dependent on N2 fixation and, unlike the combined-N plants, shoot to root ratios had only slightly increased after an initial decrease. An apparently insufficient nodule mass (nodule weight ratio <5 per cent) during the greater part of the experimental period is suggested as the main cause of the growth reduction in N2-fixing plants. Thein vivo nitrate reductase activity (NRA) of NO 3 − dependent plants was almost entirely located in the roots. However, when grown with a combination of NO 3 − and NH 4 + , root NRA was decreased by approximately 85 per cent.H. rhamnoides demonstrated in the mixed supply a strong preference for uptake of N as NH 4 + , NO 3 − contributing only for approximately 20 per cent to the total N assimilation. Specific rates of N acquisition and ion uptake were generally highest in NO 3 − +NH 4 + plants. The generation of organic anions per unit total plant dry weight was approximately 40 per cent less in the NH 4 + plants than in the NO 3 − plants. Measured extrusions of H+ or OH− (HCO 3 − ) were generally in good agreement with calculated values on the basis of plant composition, and the acidity generated with N2 fixation amounted to 0.45–0.55 meq H+. (mmol Norg)−1. Without acidity control and in the presence of NH 4 + , specific rates of ion uptake and carboxylate generation were strongly depressed and growth was reduced by 30–35 per cent. Growth of nonnodulatedH. rhamnoides plants ceased at the lower pH limit of 3.1–3.2 and deterioration set in; in the case of N2-fixing plants the nutrient solution pH stabilized at a value of 3.8–3.9 without any apparent adverse effects upon plant performance. The chemical composition of experimental and field-growing plants is being compared and some comments are made on the nitrogen supply characteristics of their natural sites.