Plant and Soil

, Volume 95, Issue 1, pp 43–55 | Cite as

The effects of low concentrations of aluminium on the growth and uptake of nitrate-N by white clover

  • S. C. Jarvis
  • D. J. Hatch
Article
Received:
Revised:

Summary

The effects of aluminium (Al3+) at concentrations of 0, 25, 50 and 100 μM on the growth of white clover, dependent upon N supplied as NO 3 − , were examined in flowing solution culture. Plants were established with a normal nutrient supply for 7 weeks and then grown with carefully controlled pH (at 4.5) and P concentrations, and with 0, 25, 50 or 100 μM Al3+ for a further three weeks. There were rapid visual effects (i.e. symptoms of P deficiency and reduction in root extension) and the dry weights of shoots and roots were reduced at 50 and 100 μM. Less than 10% of Al absorbed from solution was transported to the shoots. The uptake of P, and its transport between roots and shoots, were reduced in plants grown with Al. The uptake of NO 3 − stopped immediately after the introduction of 50 or 100 μM Al, and was significantly reduced at 25 μM after three weeks.

During a second phase of the experiment, plants previously grown at 0, 25, 50 and 100 μM Al, were grown for a further 2 weeks either with NO 3 − (with and without 50 μM Al3+) or without NO 3 − but with inoculation by Rhizobia (and with or without 50 μM Al3+). The effects of the previous treatments with Al on N uptake were small during the second phase, but uptake by all plants was restricted when Al was present. Inoculation did not result in nodulation in the second phase when Al3+ was present in the solution, but Al already in the plant from the first phase did not prevent nodulation in the absence of Al during the second phase.

Key words

Acidity Aluminium Flowing solution culture Nitrate Nitrogen-fixation Phosphate Trifolium repens White clover 
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Copyright information

© Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1986

Authors and Affiliations

  • S. C. Jarvis
    • 1
  • D. J. Hatch
    • 1
  1. 1.Animal and Grassland Research InstituteMaidenheadUK

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