Waterlogging tolerance, tissue nitrogen and oxygen transport in the forage legume Melilotus siculus: a comparison of nodulated and nitrate-fed plants.

ABSTRACT: Background and Aims:Soil waterlogging adversely impacts most plants. Melilotus siculus is a waterlogging-tolerant annual forage legume, but data were lacking for the effects of root-zone hypoxia on nodulated plants reliant on N2 fixation. The aim was to compare the waterlogging tolerance and physiology of M. siculus reliant on N2 fixation or with access to NO3-. Methods:A factorial experiment imposed treatments of water level (drained or waterlogged), rhizobia (nil or inoculated) and mineral N supply (nil or 11 mm NO3-) for 21 d on plants in pots of vermiculite in a glasshouse. Nodulation, shoot and root growth and tissue N were determined. Porosity (gas volume per unit tissue volume) and respiration rates of root tissues and nodules, and O2 microelectrode profiling across nodules, were me

SUBMITTER: Konnerup D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5853006 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature