Please wait a minute...
Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2011, Vol. 10 Issue (10): 1577-1585    DOI: 10.1016/S1671-2927(11)60154-5
SOIL & FERTILIZER · AGRI-ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Physiological Responses of Two Wheat Cultivars to Nitrogen Starvation
WANG Xiao-li, SHAN Yu-hua, WANG Su-hua, DU Yan , FENG Ke
1.Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology of Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou University
2.Technical Service Center for Agro-Environmental Safety of Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou University
Download:  PDF in ScienceDirect  
Export:  BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      
摘要  Plants need to be efficient in nutrient management, especially when they face the temporal nutrient defficiencies. Understanding how crops respond to nitrogen (N) starvation would help in the selection of crop cultivars more tolerant to N deficiency. In the present work, the physiological responses of two wheat cultivars, Yannong 19 (YN) and Qinmai 11 (QM), to N starvation conditions were investigated. The two cultivars differed in biomass and N rearrangement between shoots and roots during N starvation. QM allocated more N to roots and exhibited higher root/shoot biomass ratio than YN. However, tissue measurement indicated that both cultivars had similar nitrate content in leaves and roots and similar remobilization rate in roots. Microelectrode measurement showed that vacuolar nitrate activity (concentration) in roots of QM was lower than that in roots of YN, especially in epidermal cells. Nitrate remobilization rates from root vacuoles of two cultivars were also identical. Moreover, vacuolar nitrate remobilization rate was proportional to vacuolar nitrate activity. During N starvation, nitrate reductase activity (NRA) was decreased but there were no significant differences between the two cultivars. Nitrate efflux from roots reduced after external N removal and QM seemed to have higher nitrate efflux rate.

Abstract  Plants need to be efficient in nutrient management, especially when they face the temporal nutrient defficiencies. Understanding how crops respond to nitrogen (N) starvation would help in the selection of crop cultivars more tolerant to N deficiency. In the present work, the physiological responses of two wheat cultivars, Yannong 19 (YN) and Qinmai 11 (QM), to N starvation conditions were investigated. The two cultivars differed in biomass and N rearrangement between shoots and roots during N starvation. QM allocated more N to roots and exhibited higher root/shoot biomass ratio than YN. However, tissue measurement indicated that both cultivars had similar nitrate content in leaves and roots and similar remobilization rate in roots. Microelectrode measurement showed that vacuolar nitrate activity (concentration) in roots of QM was lower than that in roots of YN, especially in epidermal cells. Nitrate remobilization rates from root vacuoles of two cultivars were also identical. Moreover, vacuolar nitrate remobilization rate was proportional to vacuolar nitrate activity. During N starvation, nitrate reductase activity (NRA) was decreased but there were no significant differences between the two cultivars. Nitrate efflux from roots reduced after external N removal and QM seemed to have higher nitrate efflux rate.
Keywords:  nitrogen starvation      wheat      nitrate remobilization      root/shoot ratio      ion-selective microelectrodes  
Received: 15 September 2010   Accepted:
Fund: 

This work was financially supported by grants from the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2007CB109303), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30871588 and 31000934), and the Yangzhou University ‘Crop Science’ Project funded by the Priority Program of Jiangsu on Higher Education Institutions, China.

Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence FENG Ke, Professor, Ph D, Tel: +86-514-87979588, Fax: +86-514-87979526, E-mail: fengke@yzu.edu.cn     E-mail:  fengke@yzu.edu.cn

Cite this article: 

WANG Xiao-li, SHAN Yu-hua, WANG Su-hua, DU Yan , FENG Ke. 2011. Physiological Responses of Two Wheat Cultivars to Nitrogen Starvation. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 10(10): 1577-1585.

[1]Anandacoomaraswamy A, DeCosta W A J M, Tennakoon P L K, van der Werf A. 2002. The physiological basis of increased biomass partitioning to roots upon nitrogen deprivation in young clonal tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntz). Plant and Soil, 238, 1-9.

[2]Andrews M, Raven J A, Lea P J, Sprent J I. 2006. A role for shoot protein in shoot-root dry matter allocation in higher plants. Annals of Botany, 97, 3-10.

[3]Baer G R, Collet G. 1981. In vivo determination of parameters of nitrate utilization in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings growth with low concentration of nitrate in the nutrient solution. Plant Physiology, 68, 1237-1243.

[4]Brunetti N, Hageman R H. 1976. Comparison of in vivo and in vitro assays of nitrate reductase in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings. Plant Physiology, 58, 583-587.

[5]Chapin F S, Walter C H S, Clarkson D T. 1988. Growth response of barley and tomato to nitrogen stress and its control by abscisic acid, water relations and photosynthesis. Planta, 173, 352-366.

[6]Fan X, Gordon-Weeks R, Shen Q, Miller A J. 2006. Glutamine transport and feedback regulation of nitrate reductase activity in barley roots leads to changes in cytosolic nitrate pools. Journal of Experimental Botany, 57, 1333-1340.

[7]Fan X, Jia L, Li Y, Smith S J, Miller A J, Shen Q R. 2007. Comparing nitrate storage and remobilization in two rice cultivars that differ in their nitrogen use efficiency. Journal of Experimental Botany, 58, 1729-1740.

[8]Hermans C, Hammond J P, White P J, Verbruggen N. 2006. How do plants respond to nutrient shortage by biomass allocation? Trends in Plant Science, 11, 610-617.

[9]Hortensteiner S, Feller U. 2002. Nitrogen metabolism and remobilization during senescence. Journal of Experimental Botany, 53, 927-937.

[10]Jeuffroy M H, Ney B, Ourry A. 2002. Integrated physiological and agronomic modeling of N capture and use within the plant. Journal of Experimental Botany, 53, 809-823.

[11]Krouk G, Crawford N M, Coruzzi G M, Tsay Y. 2010. Nitrate signaling: adaptation to fluctuating environments. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 13, 1-8.

[12]van der Leij M, Smith S J, Miller A J. 1998. Remobilization of vacuolar stored nitrate in barley root cells. Planta, 205, 64- 72.

[13]Miller A J, Zhen R G. 1991. Measurement of intracellular nitrate concentrations in Chara using nitrate-selective microelectrodes. Planta, l84, 47-52.

[14]Miller A J, Cramer M D. 2004. Root nitrogen acquisition and assimilation. Plant and Soil, 274, 1-36.

[15]Miller A J, Smith S J. 2008. Cytosolic nitrate ion homeostasis: could it have a role in sensing nitrogen status? Annals of Botany, 101, 485-489.

[16]Richard-Molard C, Krapp A, Brun F, Ney B, Daniel-Vedele F, Chaillou S. 2008. Plant response to nitrate starvation is determined by N storage capacity matched by nitrate uptake capacity in two Arabidopsis genotypes. Journal of Experimental Botany, 59, 779-791.

[17]Scheible W R, Lauerer M, Schulze E D, Caboche M R M, Stiff M. 1997. Accumulation of nitrate in the shoot acts as a signal to regulate shoot-root allocation in tobacco. The Plant Journal, 11, 671-691.

[18]Siddiqi M Y, Glass A D M, Ruth T J, Fernando M. 1989. Studies of the regulation of nitrate influx by barley seedlings using 13NO3 -. Plant Physiology, 90, 806-813.

[19]Sun M. 2007. Mechanism of differences in nitrogen fertilizer production efficiency among different wheat genotypes. Ph D thesis, Yangzhou University. (in Chinese) Teyker R H, Jackson W A, Volk R J, Moll R H. 1988. Exogenous 15NO3 - influx and endogenous efflux by two maize (Zea mays L.) inbreds during nitrogen deprivation. Plant Physiology, 86, 778-781.

[20]Walker R L, Burens I G, Moorby J. 2001. Responses of plant growth rate to nitrogen supply: a comparison of relative addition and N interruption treatments. Journal of Experimental Botany, 52, 309-317.

[21]Zhang H, Rong H, Pilbeam D. 2007. Signaling mechanisms underlying the morphological responses of the root system to nitrogen in Arabidopsis thaliana. Journal of Experimental Botany, 58, 2329-2338.

[22]Zhen R G, Koyro H W, Leigh R A, Tomos A D, Miller A J. 1991. Compartmental nitrate concentrations in barley root cells measured with nitrate selective microelectrodes and by singlecell sap sampling. Planta, 185, 356-361.
[1] Zihui Liu, Xiangjun Lai, Yijin Chen, Peng Zhao, Xiaoming Wang, Wanquan Ji, Shengbao Xu. Selection and application of four QTLs for grain protein content in modern wheat cultivars[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(8): 2557-2570.
[2] Gensheng Zhang, Mudi Sun, Xinyao Ma, Wei Liu, Zhimin Du, Zhensheng Kang, Jie Zhao. Yr5-virulent races of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici possess relative parasitic fitness higher than current main predominant races and potential risk[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(8): 2674-2685.
[3] Wenjie Yang, Jie Yu, Yanhang Li, Bingli Jia, Longgang Jiang, Aijing Yuan, Yue Ma, Ming Huang, Hanbing Cao, Jinshan Liu, Weihong Qiu, Zhaohui Wang. Optimized NPK fertilizer recommendations based on topsoil available nutrient criteria for wheat in drylands of China[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(7): 2421-2433.
[4] Yibo Hu, Feng Qin, Zhen Wu, Xiaoqin Wang, Xiaolong Ren, Zhikuan Jia, Zhenlin Wang, Xiaoguang Chen, Tie Cai. Heterogeneous population distribution enhances resistance to wheat lodging by optimizing the light environment[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(7): 2211-2226.
[5] Bingli Jiang, Wei Gao, Yating Jiang, Shengnan Yan, Jiajia Cao, Litian Zhang, Yue Zhang, Jie Lu, Chuanxi Ma, Cheng Chang, Haiping Zhang. Identification of P-type plasma membrane H+-ATPases in common wheat and characterization of TaHA7 associated with seed dormancy and germination[J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(7): 2164-2177.
[6] Yongchao Hao, Fanmei Kong, Lili Wang, Yu Zhao, Mengyao Li, Naixiu Che, Shuang Li, Min Wang, Ming Hao, Xiaocun Zhang, Yan Zhao.

Genome-wide association study of grain micronutrient concentrations in bread wheat [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(5): 1468-1480.

[7] Zhikai Cheng, Xiaobo Gu, Yadan Du, Zhihui Zhou, Wenlong Li, Xiaobo Zheng, Wenjing Cai, Tian Chang.

Spectral purification improves monitoring accuracy of the comprehensive growth evaluation index for film-mulched winter wheat [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(5): 1523-1540.

[8] YANG Wei-bing, ZHANG Sheng-quan, HOU Qi-ling, GAO Jian-gang, WANG Han-Xia, CHEN Xian-Chao, LIAO Xiang-zheng, ZHANG Feng-ting, ZHAO Chang-ping, QIN Zhi-lie.

Transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis provides insights into lignin biosynthesis and accumulation and differences in lodging resistance in hybrid wheat [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(4): 1105-1117.

[9] Xuan Li, Shaowen Wang, Yifan Chen, Danwen Zhang, Shanshan Yang, Jingwen Wang, Jiahua Zhang, Yun Bai, Sha Zhang.

Improved simulation of winter wheat yield in North China Plain by using PRYM-Wheat integrated dry matter distribution coefficient [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(4): 1381-1392.

[10] Yingxia Dou, Hubing Zhao, Huimin Yang, Tao Wang, Guanfei Liu, Zhaohui Wang, Sukhdev Malhi.

The first factor affecting dryland winter wheat grain yield under various mulching measures: Spike number [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(3): 836-848.

[11] Yonghui Fan, Boya Qin, Jinhao Yang, Liangliang Ma, Guoji Cui, Wei He, Yu Tang, Wenjing Zhang, Shangyu Ma, Chuanxi Ma, Zhenglai Huang.

Night warming increases wheat yield by improving pre-anthesis plant growth and post-anthesis grain starch biosynthesis [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(2): 536-550.

[12] Wenqiang Wang, Xizhen Guan, Yong Gan, Guojun Liu, Chunhao Zou, Weikang Wang, Jifa Zhang, Huifei Zhang, Qunqun Hao, Fei Ni, Jiajie Wu, Lynn Epstein, Daolin Fu.

Creating large EMS populations for functional genomics and breeding in wheat [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(2): 484-493.

[13] Changqin Yang, Xiaojing Wang, Jianan Li, Guowei Zhang, Hongmei Shu, Wei Hu, Huanyong Han, Ruixian Liu, Zichun Guo.

Straw return increases crop production by improving soil organic carbon sequestration and soil aggregation in a long-term wheat–cotton cropping system [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(2): 669-679.

[14] Wei Chen, Jingjuan Zhang, Xiping Deng.

Winter wheat yield improvement by genetic gain across different provinces in China [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(2): 468-483.

[15] Qiuyan Yan, Linjia Wu, Fei Dong, Shuangdui Yan, Feng Li, Yaqin Jia, Jiancheng Zhang, Ruifu Zhang, Xiao Huang.

Subsoil tillage enhances wheat productivity, soil organic carbon and available nutrient status in dryland fields [J]. >Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 2024, 23(1): 251-266.

No Suggested Reading articles found!