The relation between nitrogen deficiency and leaf senescence

Abstract

Because the “mobilization” of nitrogen resulting from nutritional nitrogen deficiency is also prominent during leaf senescence, the characteristics of these two syndromes were compared. Oat plants (Avena sativa L. cv. Victory) were raised on a nutrient solution, complete except for nitrogen supply (i.e., with only the seed protein as nitrogen source), and the senescence of their leaves was compared with that of controls grown on a full nutrient solution. The N‐deficient plants flowered after forming only 4 leaves and each set a single seed. The nitrogen lack affected the content of chlorophyll somewhat more than the content of the amino acids or protein nitrogen. However, spraying the plants with kinetin solution was able to retain 20–30% of the chlorophyll and protein. During senescence, the chlorophyll appears to be less stable in the N‐deficient leaves than in the controls, while the protein is somewhat more stable than in the controls. Also, when the detached leaves from N‐deficient plants senesced in white light or in darkness, kinetin delayed their senescence almost as effectively as that of control leaves. Most strikingly, the stomata of N‐deficient leaves after detachment and floating on water were largely closed in light, just as in senescence, but could be partially induced to open by kinetin treatment. Since stomatal closure has earlier been shown to cause senescence, the characteristic syndrome of foliar nitrogen deficiency is concluded to be partly that of senescence.