Effect of aluminium on yield and plant chemical concentrations of some temperate legumes

Abstract

The aluminium (A1) tolerance of 34 temperate legume species (143 genotypes, including 57 from Trifolium repens) was determined in 60 experiments over a 3 year period in a low ionic strength (2.7 × 10 -3 M) solution culture. For each genotype, the relationship between solution A13+ activity (#M) and relative yield was determined and the A13+ activity associated with a 50% reduction in yield (AIRYsO) calculated. In addition, plant chemical concentrations were determined in at least one genotype from most species. For white clover, A1RYS0 over all genotypes had an approximately normal distribution with mean of 1.31/tM for the tops and 1.51 #M for the roots, and a standard deviation of about 0.4. This suggested that A1 tolerance had a polygenic inheritance. For the other species tested, A1RYS0 ranged from 0.15 to 4.53 pM in the tops and from 0.21 to 4.89/aM in the roots. In the tops and roots, 37% and 26% respectively of the genotypes had an AIRy5o less than 1 #M, including all species tested in the genera Melilotus and Medicago. Only 8% or 23% of the genotypes, based on the tops and roots respectively, had an AIRys0 greater than 2, including all genotypes in the species Lotus pedunculatus. Except for Lotus, there were no consistent differences between genera in plant chemical concentrations. In Lotus, concentrations of Ca, Zn, Mn and Cu in the tops and of all elements except B in the roots were lower than that of the other species. The A1RYS0 of the species was not related to plant chemical concentrations in the absence of A1. Depending on the plant element, increasing solution A1 concentrations had no significant effect on plant chemical concentrations for 56-94% of the species. When a significant effect did occur, increasing A1 in solution generally decreased S and K concentrations and increased Mn, Zn, Cu Fe, B and AI concentrations in the tops and roots and decreased Ca concentrations in the tops. Plant P concentrations decreased in the tops but increased in the roots. Increasing A1 in solution increase plant A1 at the average rate of 44 pg g-1 pM-1 (range 20-87) in the tops and 333/zg #M-1 (range 162-616) in the roots.

Growth and functional responses of different cultivars of Lotus corniculatus to aluminum and low pH stress

“…The Lotus species in particular have a good potential in cultivated pasture, related to their ability to grow in slightly acidic soils and moderate tolerance to aluminum, manganese and sodium stress (Blumenthal and McGraw, 1999;Wheeler and Dodd, 1995). The main Lotus species with high forage value cultivated in South America are Lotus glaber, Lotus subbiflorus, Lotus corniculatus and Lotus uliginosus.…”

Caracterização de espécies diploides de Lotus em resposta à toxidez por alumínio

“…Na saturação de 14,1%, destacaram-se ainda a alfafa e a espécie L. japonicus GIFU. Sabendo-se que a alfafa é reconhecidamente uma espécie sensível ao alumínio (Wheeler & Dodd, 1995), a produção de matéria seca da parte aérea neste tratamento sugere que o efeito do alumínio neste nível de saturação foi baixo. A partir do tratamento 14,1% de saturação por alumínio, observou-se significativa redução na produção de MS da parte aérea da alfafa, com decréscimo de mais de 30% quando os valores da saturação aumentaram para 22,2%.…”

Relative aluminium tolerance of ten species of Graminae

“…The relationship between relative yield in the tops or roots and Al 3+ activity was determined for each species and genotype using Bayesian statistical techniques as described by Wheeler and Dodd (1995). The Al 3+ activity (μΜ) at which yield decreased by 50% (A1RY50) and the 95% confidence interval for comparing differences between species or genotypes was determined.…”

“…The Al tolerance of a wide range of temperate pasture species has been determined using a low ionic strength solution culture technique (Edmeades et al, 1991;Wheeler and Dodd, 1995). In these experiments, the yield of the majority of species that are sown in pasture was reduced by 50% when solution Al 3+ activity was < 4 μΜ (Edmeades et al, 1991).…”