Stomatal conductance, photosynthesis and acetylene reduction rate in soybean genotypes

1992 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Djekoun ◽  
C. Planchon

Yield limitation in soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) can result from decreases in photosynthesis and N2 fixation during periods of water deficiency. In this study, the relationships among stomatal conductance, photosynthesis and N2 fixation were analyzed in connection with drought tolerance of genotypes. Plants were grown in pots and exposed to field conditions. Carbon dioxide exchange rate was measured by gas analysis and nodule activity by the acetylene reduction method. Leaf water status was determined with a pressure bomb, and nodule water potential and leaf osmotic potential were measured psychrometrically. The differing tolerances of the cultivars Kingsoy and Hodgson to leaf water deficit resulted in a more or less developed ability of the lower side of the leaf to maintain good stomatal conductance during water stress. Stomatal conductance affects photosynthetic rate directly and acetylene reduction activity indirectly. Early stomatal closure, by limiting H2O exchange, contributes to conservation of nitrogenase activity. On the contrary, maintenance of high conductance during a water stress decreases soil water availability and nodule water content, which in turn has a decisive and limiting effect on acetylene reduction activity. Thus, if tolerance at low leaf water potentials associated with osmotic adjustment is an important drought mechanism for maintaining photosynthetic processes under water-limited conditions, the result would be obtained at the expense of symbiotic N2 fixation.Key words: Glycine max L. Merr., nitrogenase activity, photosynthesis, drought stress, soybean

1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 527 ◽  
Author(s):  
AD Day ◽  
GD Price ◽  
KA Schuller ◽  
PM Gresshoff

The nodule physiology of a supernodulating, nitrate tolerant symbiosis soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) mutant (nts382) was compared to that of its wild-type parent, cv. Bragg. Nodule number and mass were greater in nts382 than cv. Bragg and individual nodule mass, bacteroid and haem content, and acetylene reduction activity per g nodule were less. Acetylene reduction activity expressed per mg bacteroid protein was the same in the two genotypes. In median sections, the ratio of infected to total nodule area was smaller in nts382, infected cell size was smaller and there were fewer bacteroids per peribacteroid envelope. When inoculum dose was decreased from 109 to 103 viable cells per pot, nodule number on nts382 decreased approximately to that on cv. Bragg; nodule size, bacteroid and haem contents increased as did nodule acetylene reduction activity. Application of moderate levels of nitrate, which did not significantly affect symbiotic parameters of cv. Bragg or high inoculum nts382, stimulated nodule growth and nitrogenase activity of low inoculum nts382. A combination of nitrate and low inoculum levels enhanced nodule parameters of nts382 to the level usually seen with cv. Bragg. When supernodulated, plant dry weight of nts382 was less than that of Bragg; decreasing inoculum dose had no significant effect but nitrate application increased plant growth; nitrate plus low inoculum induced similar plant growth to that of cv. Bragg. Nodule carbohydrate content was similar in both genotypes but nodule and xylem sap ureide contents were higher in nts382. In general, nodules of supernodulated nts382 resembled under-developed cv. Bragg nodules; when supernodulation was avoided by using low inoculum doses, ,nts382 nodules resembled those of cv. Bragg. Nitrogen metabolism in the mutant seems to be disturbed, resulting in ureide accumulation.


1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (18) ◽  
pp. 2218-2223 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Smith ◽  
D. G. Patriquin

Excised root samples from 901 plants, representing 130 species of nonnodulated angiosperms largely in upland, pioneering habitats, were assayed for nitrogenase activity by the acetylene-reduction technique after overnight preincubation of the samples under low pO2. Most samples and most species exhibited very low excised root acetylene-reducing activities, but for 19 species, maximum values were greater than 50 nmol C2H4∙g−1∙h−1. In situ C2H2 assays, conducted on 10 species which had exhibited maximum excised root activities greater than 10 nmol C2H4∙g−1∙h−1, indicated average belowground N2-fixation rates of 3 to 92 g N∙ha−1∙day−1 and maxima greater than 100 g N∙ha−1∙day−1 for 3 of the 10 species. The highest values were for grasses characteristic of poorly drained soils and for some dicotyledonous weeds. It is concluded that the potential of temperate-zone angiosperms for nitrogenase activity by 'associative symbioses' approaches that of tropical forage grasses.


1988 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 409 ◽  
Author(s):  
GN Mundy ◽  
HR Jones ◽  
WK Mason

The effect of flood irrigation on clover nitrogen fixation (acetylene reduction activity) was investigated in unfertilized pastures and pastures fertilized with 100 kg N/ha as NH4N03. During the experiment acetylene reduction activities were monitored between successive flood irrigations. The rate of ethylene production increased with decreasing soil water content, peaking 13 days after irrigation. Measured nodule activity then declined, possibly owing to water stress. Nitrogen fertilizer reduced acetylene reduction activities to about half that of the unfertilized pastures. For most of the irrigation cycle acetylene reduction by the pasture was below the measured maximum.


1992 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 577-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. K. Ladha ◽  
Minviluz Garcia ◽  
R. P. Pareek ◽  
G. Rarivoson

Six experiments, two each in the phytotron, greenhouse, and field, were conducted to assess the contribution of nitrogenase activity (acetylene reduction) by stem nodules in the presence and absence of root nodules of Sesbania rostrata (Brem & Oberm). In a greenhouse experiment, the effect of detaching already formed aerial stem nodules on the restoration of root nodules and nitrogenase activity was studied. The field experiment compared nodulation and acetylene-reduction activity by dual-nodulating S. rostrata and root-nodulating Sesbania cannabina. Acetylene-reduction activity expressed per gram of nodule dry weight was higher for stem nodules than for root nodules. Root nodule dry weight and acetylene-reduction activity failed to increase after stem inoculation, but root nodule dry weight and acetylene-reduction activity increased several fold within 15 days of detachment of aerial stem nodules. Stem nodulation, which occurred without inoculation under lowland field condition, suppressed root nodulation, thus accounting for more than 75% of total nitrogenase activity. Sesbania rostrata showed higher acetylene-reduction activity than S. cannabina. In dual-nodulating plants, root and stem nodules appeared to strike a balance in competition for energy, which may be controlled by stem nodulation. Key words: Sesbania rostrata, Azorhizobium caulinodans, stem nodule, root nodule, acetylene-reducing activity.


1988 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 409
Author(s):  
GN Mundy ◽  
HR Jones ◽  
WK Mason

The effect of flood irrigation on clover nitrogen fixation (acetylene reduction activity) was investigated in unfertilized pastures and pastures fertilized with 100 kg N/ha as NH4N03. During the experiment acetylene reduction activities were monitored between successive flood irrigations. The rate of ethylene production increased with decreasing soil water content, peaking 13 days after irrigation. Measured nodule activity then declined, possibly owing to water stress. Nitrogen fertilizer reduced acetylene reduction activities to about half that of the unfertilized pastures. For most of the irrigation cycle acetylene reduction by the pasture was below the measured maximum.


Weed Science ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip H. Munger ◽  
James M. Chandler ◽  
J. Tom Cothren

Greenhouse experiments were conducted to elucidate the effects of water stress on photosynthetic parameters of soybean [Glycine max(L.) Merr. ‘Hutton′] and velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrastiMedik. # ABUTH). Stomatal conductance of both species responded curvilinearly to reductions in leaf water potential. At leaf water potentials less negative than −2.5 MPa, stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, and transpiration rate were greater in velvetleaf than in soybean. Soybean photosynthetic rate was linearly related to stomatal conductance. Velvetleaf photosynthetic rate increased linearly with stomatal conductances up to 1.5 cm s–1; however, no increase in photosynthetic rate was observed at stomatal conductances greater than 1.5 cm s–1, indicating nonstomatal limitations to photosynthesis. As water stress intensified, stomatal conductance, photosynthetic rate, and transpiration of velvetleaf declined more rapidly than in soybean.


Weed Science ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 544-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blair S. Griffin ◽  
Donn G. Shilling ◽  
Jerry M. Bennett ◽  
Wayne L. Currey

Replacement studies were conducted under greenhouse conditions to determine if available soil water influences the competitive interaction between soybean and Florida beggarweed. Stomatal conductance and leaf water potential were determined for both species under different levels of available soil water to identify possible mechanisms involved in changes in the relative competitiveness induced by the water deficits. Soybean leaf area and aboveground biomass were greater than for Florida beggarweed under optimum water, but equal to or less than Florida beggarweed with water stress. Soybean was more competitive than Florida beggarweed when there was adequate soil water but less competitive than Florida beggarweed under water stress. Stomatal conductance was higher for soybean with optimum soil water (at high leaf water potentials) but equal to Florida beggarweed as soil water became limiting (low leaf water potentials). These data indicated that water stress differentially affected soybean and Florida beggarweed.


1980 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 261 ◽  
Author(s):  
WD Sutton

Rifampicin and D-threo-chloramphenicol inhibited the incorporation of [35S]methionine into purified bacteroid suspensions, and into the bacteroid fraction but not the plant cytoplasmic fraction of cultured nodules. Cycloheximide and anisomycin inhibited [35S]methionine incorporation into the plant cytoplasmic fraction of cultured nodules; at early times they inhibited incorporation into the bacteroid fraction, but at later times this effect was reversed. Chloramphenicol, rifampicin, spectinomycin, cycloheximide and anisomycin all prevented the induction of acetylene reduction activity in immature nodules; spectinomycin did not prevent induction in nodules containing a spectinomycin-resistant Rhizobium. Neither rifampicin nor chloramphenicol inhibited the acetylene reduction activity of mature nodules, but cycloheximide and anisomycin caused rapid loss of activity. Cycloheximide did not inhibit the acetylene reduction activity of Rhizobium strain 32H1 in pure cultures. The results suggest that both plant cytoplasmic protein synthesis and bacteroid protein synthesis are needed for the induction of nitrogenase activity in developing lupin nodules, and that plant cytoplasmic protein synthesis but not bacteroid protein synthesis is needed for the maintenance of nitrogenase activity at high levels.


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