Lateral root is primary organ for plant to explore and utilize soil nutrient efficiently. The development of lateral roots (LR) is controlled by both genetic factors and nutrient status in environment. To investigate ...Lateral root is primary organ for plant to explore and utilize soil nutrient efficiently. The development of lateral roots (LR) is controlled by both genetic factors and nutrient status in environment. To investigate the effects of nitrate (NO3-) on rice lateral root growth and nitrogen (N) uptake efficiency under upland condition, three treatments, including root-split culture and whole plant culture in N sufficient and deficient conditions, were used in a vermiculite culture experiment. Root-split treatment showed that the growth of lateral roots was stimulated by localized nitrate supply. However, in whole plant culture, elongation of lateral roots was induced by NO3- deficiency. The effects of NO3- on rice lateral root growth were genotype-dependent. Similar N concentration, soluble sugar concentration and N content in shoot were observed in both root-split treatment and whole plant culture under NO3- sufficient condition, suggesting that the nitrogen requirement for rice normal growth could be satisfied with only half of roots supplied with NO3-. In the root-split treatment, N uptake was positively correlated with the average of lateral root length (ALRL) in NO3--supplied side, suggesting that the ALRL is important for rice root N uptake in the environment where the nitrogen nutrient is limiting factor. No significant correlation was observed between N uptake and ALRL in whole plant culture under N sufficient condition, which implies that the length of lateral roots may not be the main factor to determine tire rice root N uptake in nutrient-rich zone. Morphological and metabolic evidence in this study provided some prospects for genetic improvement of root system characters to improve the efficiency of nutrient absorption in rice.展开更多
文摘Lateral root is primary organ for plant to explore and utilize soil nutrient efficiently. The development of lateral roots (LR) is controlled by both genetic factors and nutrient status in environment. To investigate the effects of nitrate (NO3-) on rice lateral root growth and nitrogen (N) uptake efficiency under upland condition, three treatments, including root-split culture and whole plant culture in N sufficient and deficient conditions, were used in a vermiculite culture experiment. Root-split treatment showed that the growth of lateral roots was stimulated by localized nitrate supply. However, in whole plant culture, elongation of lateral roots was induced by NO3- deficiency. The effects of NO3- on rice lateral root growth were genotype-dependent. Similar N concentration, soluble sugar concentration and N content in shoot were observed in both root-split treatment and whole plant culture under NO3- sufficient condition, suggesting that the nitrogen requirement for rice normal growth could be satisfied with only half of roots supplied with NO3-. In the root-split treatment, N uptake was positively correlated with the average of lateral root length (ALRL) in NO3--supplied side, suggesting that the ALRL is important for rice root N uptake in the environment where the nitrogen nutrient is limiting factor. No significant correlation was observed between N uptake and ALRL in whole plant culture under N sufficient condition, which implies that the length of lateral roots may not be the main factor to determine tire rice root N uptake in nutrient-rich zone. Morphological and metabolic evidence in this study provided some prospects for genetic improvement of root system characters to improve the efficiency of nutrient absorption in rice.
