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- Author or Editor: Lailiang Cheng x
Fertigation of young Fuji/M26 apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh.) with different nitrogen concentrations by using a modified Hoagland solution for 6 weeks resulted in a wide range of leaf nitrogen content in recently expanded leaves (from 0.9 to 4.4 g·m–2). Net photosynthesis at ambient CO2, carboxylation efficiency, and CO2-saturated photosynthesis of recently expanded leaves were closely related to leaf N content expressed on both leaf area and dry weight basis. They all increased almost linearly with increase in leaf N content when leaf N < 2.4 g·m–2, leveled off when leaf N increased further. The relationship between stomatal conductance and leaf N content was similar to that of net photosynthesis with leaf N content, but leaf intercellular CO2 concentration tended to decrease with increase in leaf N content, indicating non-stomatal limitation in leaves with low N content. Photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency was high when leaf N < 2.4 g·m–2, but decreased with further increase in leaf N content. Due to the correlation between leaf nitrogen and phosphorus content, photosynthesis was also associated with leaf P content, but to a lesser extent.
`Early Girl' tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) were grown in a medium containing peatmoss and perlite (60%:40% by volume). The medium was drenched with 0% or 5% GLK-8924 antitranspirant. Half of the plants were flushed daily with 250 mL water (leaching), and the other half were subirrigated by capillarity. The solution osmotic potential of the medium was reduced significantly by 5% GLK 8924 treatment, then recovered gradually to the control level after 3 days with leaching or 10 days without leaching. Leaf stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, and plant growth were depressed by the antitranspirant application, and the depression was alleviated by leaching. Neither antitranspirant GLK-8924 treatment nor leaching influenced leaf abscisic acid (ABA) content. The effect of the antitranspirant on leaf gas exchange and plant growth was highly related to the reduction in the solution osmotic potential of the medium, but not to leaf ABA content. Younger leaves had higher stomatal conductance and transpiration rate but lower ABA content than older leaves in general.
June-budded `Nonpareil/Nemaguard' almond (Prunus dulcis (Mill) D.A. Webb) trees were fertigated with one of five nitrogen (N) concentrations (0, 5, 10, 15, or 20 mm) in a modified Hoagland's solution from July to September. In October, the trees were sprayed twice with either water or 3% urea, then harvested after natural leaf fall and stored at 2°C. Trees were destructively sampled during winter storage to determine their concentrations of amino acids, protein, and non-structural carbohydrates (TNC). Increasing N supply either via N fertigation during the growing season or with foliar urea applications in the fall increased the concentrations of both free and total amino acids, whereas decreased their C/N ratios. Moreover, as the N supply increased, the proportion of nitrogen stored as free amino acids also increased. However, protein was still the main form of N used for storage. The predominant amino acid in both the free and total amino-acid pools was arginine. Arginin N accounted for an increasing proportion of the total N in both the free and total amino acids as the N supply was increased. However, the proportion of arginine N was higher in the free amino acids than in the total amino acids. A negative relationship was found between total amino acid and non-structural carbohydrate concentrations, suggesting that TNC is increasingly used for N assimilation as the supply of N increases. Urea applications decreased the concentrations of glucose, fructose, and sucrose, but had little influence on concentrations of sorbitol and starch. We conclude that protein is the primary form of storage N, and that arginine is the predominant amino acid. Furthermore, the synthesis of amino acids and proteins comes at the expense of non-structural carbohydrates.
The objective of this study was to determine how nitrogen (N) supply affects the source-sink balance and fruit size of ‘Gala’ apple when crop load was controlled at a moderate level. Five-year-old ‘Gala’/‘M.26’ trees grown in sand culture and trained in tall spindle received a total of 3.3, 10.0, 20.0, or 40.0 g actual N through fertigation using Hoagland's solution from bloom to 3 weeks before harvest. The crop load of these trees was adjusted to 6.5 fruit/cm2 trunk cross-sectional area by hand thinning when the diameter of the largest fruit was 10 mm. As N supply increased, total shoot leaf area in the canopy increased, whereas total spur leaf area remained unchanged. Both single leaf and whole canopy net CO2 assimilation rates increased with increasing N supply. The net dry matter gain of the whole tree from budbreak to fruit harvest increased ≈74% from the lowest N supply to the highest N supply, but the proportion of net dry matter gain partitioned to fruit (harvest index) decreased from 83% to 70%. Both leaf area to fruit ratio and average final fruit size increased with increasing N supply, and a linear relationship was found between leaf area to fruit ratio and final fruit size. The number of cells per fruit increased with increasing N supply, whereas average cell size remained unchanged. As N supply increased, fruit soluble solids concentration increased, whereas fruit firmness decreased slightly. These results indicate that 1) apple trees grown under low N supply are source-limited; and 2) within the range of N supply used, increasing N supply improves leaf N status, leaf and whole tree photosynthetic capacity, and leaf area to fruit ratio, leading to more cells per fruit, larger fruit, and higher soluble solids.
Own-rooted one-year-old `Concord' grapevines were fertigated twice weekly for 11 weeks with 1, 10, 20, 50, OR 100 μmol iron (Fe) from ferric ethylenediamine di (o-hydroxyphenylacetic) acid in a complete nutrient solution. As Fe supply increased, leaf total Fe content did not change, whereas active Fe (extracted by 2, 2'-dipyridyl) and total chlorophyll content increased curvilinearly. CO2 assimilation and stomatal conductance increased curvilinearly with increasing active Fe, whereas intercellular CO2 concentrations decreased linearly. Activities of key Calvin cycle enzymes, Rubisco, NADP-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphoribulokinase, stromal fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase), and a key enzyme in sucrose synthesis, cytosolic FBPase, all increased linearly with increasing active Fe. No difference was found in the activities of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase and sucrose phosphate synthase of leaves between the lowest and the highest treatments, whereas slightly lower activities were observed in the middle Fe treatments. Content of 3-phosphoglycerate increased curvilinearly with increased active Fe, whereas glucose-6-phosphate and fructose-6-phosphate did not change. Glucose, fructose, sucrose, starch, and total non-structural carbohydrates at both dusk and pre-dawn increased with increasing active Fe. Carbon export from starch breakdown during the night, calculated as the difference between dusk and predawn levels, increased as active Fe increased. In conclusion, Fe limitation reduces the activities of Rubisco and other photosynthetic enzymes, and hence CO2 assimilation capacity. Fe-deficient grapevines have lower concentrations of non-structural carbohydrates in source leaves, and therefore, are source limited.
Bench-grafted Fuji/M26 apple (Malus domestica Borkh) trees were fertigated with different concentrations of nitrogen by using a modified Hoagland's solution for 45 days. CO2 assimilation and actual photosystem II (PSII) efficiency in response to incident photon flux density (PFD) were measured simultaneously in recent fully expanded leaves under low O2 (2%) and saturated CO2 (1300 ppm) conditions. A single curvilinear relationship was found between true quantum yield for CO2 assimilation and actual PSII efficiency for leaves with a wide range of leaf N content. The relationship was linear up to a quantum yield of approximately 0.05 mol CO2/mol quanta, then became curvilinear with a further rise in quantum yield in response to decreasing PFD. This relationship was subsequently used as a calibration curve to assess the rate of linear electron transport associated with rubisco and partitioning of electron flow between CO2 assimilation and photorespiration in different N leaves in response to intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) under normal O2 conditions. Both the rate of linear electron flow, and the rate to CO2 or O2 increased with increasing leaf N at any given Ci, but the percentage of linear electron flow to CO2 assimilation remained the same regardless of leaf N content. As Ci increased, the percentage of linear electron flow to CO2 assimilation increased. In conclusion, the relationship between actual PSII efficiency and quantum yield for CO2 assimilation and the partitioning of electron flow between CO2 assimilation and photorespiration are not affected by N content in apple leaves.
One-year-old (Old Home) OH87 and OH97 pear rootstocks were grown in 2-gallon containers under natural conditions at Corvallis, Ore., in in 1999. Uniform plants were harvested during August and September, and total leaf area, new shoot number and length, and root growth were measured. The kinetics of NH4 + and NO3 - uptake by new roots of both rootstocks were determined with the ion-depletion technique. OH87 had larger total leaf area, and more and longer shoots than OH97. Total root biomass was similiar between the two rootstocks, but OH87 had a larger proportion of new roots and more extension roots than OH97. Both rootstocks had lower Km values for NH4 + absorption than for NO3 - and therefore both had greater absorptive power for NH4 + than for NO3 - at the low nutrient concentrations. The maximum uptake rates (Vmax) of OH97 were similiar for both NH4 + and NO3 - absorption, but OH87 had a much higher maximum uptake rate for NO3 - than for NH4 +.
`Gala'/M26 apple and `Bartlett'/OH97 pear trees growing in containers were treated with either 0, 1, 5, 10, 20, or 30g of urea dissolved in 150 mL of distilled water on 7 Sept. 1999. Two weeks after application, a soil sample from each container was analyzed for NH4 + and NO3 –. One day after treatment, the leaves of the apple trees treated with either 20 or 30 g urea wilted and curled and none of the other apple treatments were affected. However, 20 days later, new lateral and terminal buds broke to grow from these two treatments. In contrast, the pear trees showed signs of wilting and leaf necrosis in the 5, 10, 20, and 30 g urea treatments about 6 days after application. Twenty days after treatment, the leaves from the two highest treatments were completely necrotic and remained attached to the trees, while the leaves of 5- and 10-g treatments were partially necrotic and began defoliating. None of the pear trees produced any new lateral or terminal growth. Soil test showed that NH4 + contents of the soils were 54.9, 104.2, 356.9, 884.28, 1154.9, and 1225.2 mg/kg for `Bartlett'/OH97, and 30.2, 62.9, 359.0, 235.1, 529.9, and 499.0 mg/kg for `Gala'/M26 and NO3 – contents of the soils were 40.5, 62.4, 211.0, 129.8, 54.5, and 39.5 mg/kg for `Bartlett'/OH97, and 37.6, 42.0, 178.7, 138.2, 186.2, and 142.1 mg/kg for `Gala'/M26 treated with 0, 1, 5, 10, 20, and 30 g urea, respectively.
Photosystem II (PSII) efficiency and CO2 assimilation in response to photon flux density (PFD) and intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) were monitored simultaneously in leaves of apple, pear, apricot, and cherry with a combined system for measuring chlorophyll fluorescence and gas exchange. When photorespiration was minimized by low O2 (2%) and saturated CO2 (1300 ppm), a linear relationship was found between PSII efficiency and the quantum yield for CO2 assimilation with altering PFD, indicating CO2 assimilation in this case is closely linked to PSII activity. As PFD increased from 80 to 1900 μmol·m–2·s–1 under ambient CO2 (350 ppm) and O2 (21%) conditions, PSII efficiency decreased by increased nonphotochemical quenching and decreased concentration of open PSII reaction centers. The rate of linear electron transport showed a similar response to PFD as CO2 assimilation. As Ci increased from 50 to 1000 ppm under saturating PFD (1000 μmol·m–2·s–1) and ambient O2, PSII efficiency was increased initially by decreased nonphotochemical quenching and increased concentration of open PSII reaction centers and then leveled off with further a rise in Ci. CO2 assimilation reached a plateau at a higher Ci than PSII efficiency because increasing Ci diverted electron flow from O2 reduction to CO2 assimilation by depressing photorespiration. It is concluded that PSII efficiency is regulated by both nonphotochemical quenching and concentration of open PSII reaction centers in response to light and CO2 to meet the requirement for photosynthetic electron transport.
Bench-grafted `Fuji'/M.26 trees were sprayed with 1% CuEDTA on 31 Oct., defoliated manually on 12 Nov., or allowed to defoliate naturally. Foliar urea at 3% was applied at 14 days and 9 days before CuEDTA treatment. Plants were harvested after natural leaf fall and stored at 2 °C. One set of the plants were destructively sampled for reserve N (expressed as total Kjeldahl N or soluble protein concentration) analysis, and the remaining plants were transplanted into a N-free medium in the spring without any N supply for 40 days after budbreak. CuEDTA resulted in >80% defoliation within 5 days of application. Trees defoliated with CuEDTA had lower reserve N content than naturally defoliated controls, but had higher N than hand-defoliated controls. Foliar urea application before the CuEDTA treatment significantly increased reserve N level in all tree parts, without affecting the efficacy of CuEDTA on defoliation. The extent of spring regrowth was proportional to the reserve N level of the tree. Urea-treated plants, whether hand- or CuEDTA defoliated, had more growth in the spring than hand- or naturally defoliated controls. It is concluded that CuEDTA, as combined with foliar urea, can be used to effectively defoliate apple nursery trees, and increase reserve N level and improve regrowth performance during establishment.