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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2011, Vol. 10 Issue (10): 1577-1585    DOI: 10.1016/S1671-2927(11)60154-5
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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
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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   

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.

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