Abstract
The role of root exudates has long been recognized for its potential to improve nutrient use efficiency in cropping systems. However, studies addressing the variability of root exudates involved in phosphorus solubilization across plant developmental stages remain scarce. Here, we grew Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings in sterile liquid culture with a low, medium, or high concentration of phosphate and measured the composition of the root exudate at seedling, vegetative, and bolting stages. The exudates changed in response to the incremental addition of phosphorus, starting from the vegetative stage. Specific metabolites decreased in relation to phosphate concentration supplementation at specific stages of development. Some of those metabolites were tested for their phosphate solubilizing activity, and 3-hydroxypropionic acid, malic acid, and nicotinic acid were able to solubilize calcium phosphate from both solid and liquid media. In summary, our data suggest that plants can release distinct compounds to deal with phosphorus deficiency needs influenced by the phosphorus nutritional status at varying developmental stages.
Highlights
Phosphorus is an essential element for plant growth and development [1], and a non-renewable resource [2,3]
Phosphate levels did not cause a significant separation on the root exudate patterns at the seedling stage, but the separation was observed in Phosphorus assimilation by plant root exudates the vegetative and in the bolting phases (Fig 1A)
The data collected indicate that root exudate patterns change as a response to the supply levels of phosphorus, and this change was accentuated as the plant reached maturity, when phosphate demands are higher. 3-Hydroxypropionic acid and nicotinic acid accumulated significantly at the vegetative stage under lower phosphate supplementation and was found to solubilize phosphate under both solid and liquid medium
Summary
Phosphorus is an essential element for plant growth and development [1], and a non-renewable resource [2,3]. Despite the fact that the total amount of phosphorus is high in most agricultural soils, crop yields are often limited by low availability due to the non-soluble form and low mobility of this nutrient [4,5]. It has been estimated that residual phosphorus fertilizer known as ‘phosphorus legacy’ in soil can be sufficient to sustain crop yield for the century and could alleviate expected phosphorus shortages in the 50 years [6]. Studies addressing potential solutions to exploit soil phosphorus reserves are needed.
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