Nickel: An Essential Micronutrient for Legumes and Possibly All Higher Plants

Abstract

Soybean plants deprived of nickel accumulated toxic concentrations of urea (2.5 percent) in necrotic lesions on their leaflet tips. This occurred regardless of whether the plants were supplied with inorganic nitrogen or were dependent on nitrogen fixation. Nickel deprivation resulted in delayed nodulation and in a reduction of early growth. Addition of nickel (1 microgram per liter) to the nutrient media prevented urea accumulation, necrosis, and growth reductions. This evidence suggests that nickel is essential for soybeans and possibly for higher plants in general.

Antioxidative parameters in the opposite-leaved pondweed (Gronlendia densa) in response to nickel stress

“…Nickel, a heavy metal, is an essential micronutrient for plant growth and development (Eskew et al, 1983). However; it becomes toxic at high concentration.…”

Effects of nickel and nitrogen soil fertilization on lettuce growth and urease activity

“…In 1975, Dixon et al (1975) found that Ni is a component of urease, a ubiquitous metalloenzyme present in plants, and later on, based on works by Eskew et al (1983Eskew et al ( , 1984 and Brown et al (1987), Ni was classified as a micronutrient (Salisbury & Ross, 1992;Marschner, 2008). However, research with Ni has mainly addressed its toxic effects on plants and on how Ni-hyperaccumulator plants respond to high Ni concentrations.…”

Comparative Phloem Mobility of Nickel in Nonsenescent Plants

“…The biological importance and essentiality of Ni to plants, animals, and bacteria has recently been extensively reviewed and investigated (5,6,8,9,14). Ni is a constituent of the enzyme urease (3); Ni deficiencies lead to reduced urease activity in tissue cultures of soybean, rice, and tobacco ( 11) and in the leaves and seeds of intact soybean plants grown hydroponically on rigorously purified Ni deficient nutrient solutions (5,6,8).…”

“…Interruption of the phloem pathway between source and sink leaves by steam girdling almost completely inhibited '3Ni accumulation in the sink leaves of both species. We conclude that Ni is transported from nonsenescent source leaves to sink tissues via the phloem of leguminous and nonleguminous plants.The biological importance and essentiality of Ni to plants, animals, and bacteria has recently been extensively reviewed and investigated (5,6,8,9,14). Ni is a constituent of the enzyme urease (3); Ni deficiencies lead to reduced urease activity in tissue cultures of soybean, rice, and tobacco ( 11) and in the leaves and seeds of intact soybean plants grown hydroponically on rigorously purified Ni deficient nutrient solutions (5,6,8).…”

“…Ni is a constituent of the enzyme urease (3); Ni deficiencies lead to reduced urease activity in tissue cultures of soybean, rice, and tobacco ( 11) and in the leaves and seeds of intact soybean plants grown hydroponically on rigorously purified Ni deficient nutrient solutions (5,6,8). Ni deficiencies also result in excessive accumulation of urea and toxic damage to leaves of leguminous plants (soybean, cowpea) whether these are metabolizing external sources of inorganic N or fixing N2 (5, 8).…”