Nitrogen allocation in barley: Relationships between amino acid transport and storage protein synthesis during grain filling

Abstract

Egle, K., Beschow, H. and Merbach, W. 2015. Nitrogen allocation in barley: Relationships between amino acid transport and storage protein synthesis during grain filling. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 451-459. A better knowledge of the source-sink relationships relating to nitrogen allocation within plant and synthesis of storage protein in grains could be of particular importance contributing to better define grain sink capacity for improving nitrogen use efficiency by plant species. The objectives of this study were to assess N partitioning in barley cv ‘Barke’prior and after anthesis, and to investigate whether the synthesis of the major storage protein (hordein) is an indicator of the sink strength of the developing grain for nitrogenous compounds. Pot experiments were performed using N fertilizer, labelled N (15N fertilizer) or feeding of labelled proteinogenic and non-proteinogenic amino acids (15N-L-a-alanine: 15N-a-Ala or 15N-a-aminoisobutyric acid: 15N-a-Aib, respectively). Results showed that N filling ...