Do root temperatures warm during the day and cool during the night benefit plant growth? Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) seedlings were grown at a constant 20C air temperature but with varied root temperature, either 28/12C or 12/28C day/night for 8 days. Eight seedlings were grown in troughs in continuously flowing nutrient solution containing 200 μM \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(^{14}\mathrm{NO}_{3}^{-}\) \end{document} excess amounts of other mineral elements. The flow rate was 0.6 liters/day per trough on the first day, when plants weighed 20 mg, and increased with plant size. After 8 days, \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(^{15}\mathrm{NO}_{3}^{-}\) \end{document} was provided for 12 h when roots were warm, and eight plants were harvested at the end of labeling or 12 h later. During the treatments, weight per plant increased more in leaves, 3.5 to 44 mg, than roots, 4.3 to 19 mg, and least for stem, 12 to 30 mg. The whole-plant relative growth rate did not differ among treatments, 0.17 to 0.19/day, but was less than for plants grown at a constant 20C root temperature, 0.22/day. Uptake of \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(^{14}\mathrm{NO}_{3}^{-}\) \end{document} from the media and exudation from the stem of decapitated plants were greater when roots were warm than when roots were cold, regardless of light. After labeling for 12 h at the warm root temperature, 15N enrichment in plant tissues was greater with roots warm during the day, 0.20, 0.15, and 0.16, than in those with roots warm during the night, 0.16, 0.11, and 0.10, for roots, stems, and leaves, respectively. Enrichment with roots warm during the day was 22%, 33%, and 62% greater, for roots, stems, and leaves, respectively, than with roots warm during the night. However, uptake of \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(\mathrm{NO}_{3}^{-}\) \end{document} at night by roots that were warm during the night was sufficient so that plants grown at out-of-phase root temperature grew as fast as plants grown at in-phase root temperature. Research supported in part by grant 93-37100-9101 from the NRI Competitive Grants Program/USDA.
The Effect of Nutrient Regime on Biomass Allocation and Nutrient Accumulation in Red Oak Seedlings