Nitrogen deficiency-induced molybdenum accumulation in wheat

Abstract

In the present study, we conducted experiments using wheat to elucidate whether the increased accumulation of molybdenum in leaves under nitrogen deficiency is due to the plant’s own metabolic response, and further to estimate the role of molybdenum in the nitrogen deficiency response. Even under different growth conditions such as soil culture, hydroponic culture, and aseptic culture, the nitrogen deficiency always increased the molybdenum accumulation in leaves of wheat. Because molybdenum supply to the soil enhanced the growth of wheat under nitrogen deficiency but did not increase plant nitrogen concentration, the increased molybdenum uptake might be involved in the adaptive mechanisms to nitrogen deficiency by increasing nitrogen use efficiency. Wheat under nitrogen deficiency accumulated more molybdenum in lower leaves. Moreover, the nitrogen concentration of wheat grown under nitrogen deficiency increased in the lower leaves and decreased in the upper leaves with the application of molybdenum. These results suggest that molybdenum might affect nitrogen translocation from older to younger leaves.