Net uptake and partitioning of nitrogen and potassium in cultivars of barley during ageing

Abstract

Experiments were carried out with barley cultivars (Hordeum vulgare L.) grown in both pot‐ and water‐culture. Net uptake of NO3− and K+ in the roots was followed in two barley cultivars grown on water‐culture for 85 days. After an initial period of low net uptake of both ions, uptake increased until a maximum was reached after 30 to 45 days. Thereafter, net uptake of NO3− and K+ steadily decreased. In the pot experiments, effects of different mineral supply on day 4 to 18 upon the development of five barley cultivars of various earliness were investigated. The effect of earliness on fresh weight production was largest when mineral supply on day 4 to 18 was limited. The influence of limited mineral supply on day 4 to 18 on K‐economy was independent of earliness of the cultivars. The maximal N‐content was reached at the same time as maximal fresh and dry weight in fairly late cultivars; in early cultivars maximum N‐level was reached later than maximum fresh and dry weight. Overall, maximal N‐content was higher in the fairly late cultivars than in the early cultivars. The highest rate of 15N‐transport was attained later in two of three fairly late cultivars than in early cultivars. Partitioning of dry weight, N and K in the shoots changed during ageing, ears being an important sink. Varietal differences in partitioning depended on the earliness of the cultivars. The largest fraction of recently supplied 15N, supplied as nitrate, and K+ (86Rb) were found in the stems. In the oldest plants of the early cultivars the transport to the ears of these isotopes was gradually impaired, reflecting the decreasing function of the long distance transport system.