Summary
Chloride tends to accumulate in tissues, particularly leaves, of some plants to toxic levels. Chloride accumulation in plants is closely related to Cl concentration in the external solution and the genotype.
An experiment was conducted to study the rate of Cl accumulation in bean plants under greenhouse conditions and to determine the toxic levels of this anion in the leaves of red kidney beans. Plants were grown in large tanks containing a basal nutrient solution, salinized with either NaCl or Na2SO4 to produce 80 meq/l solutions of these two salts. Control plants were grown in nonsalinized nutrient solutiosn. Salt-treated plants were harvested at different time intervals and analyzed. Chemical analysis of leaves showed that accumulation of chloride was different from that of other ions derived from salines. The leaf-Cl accumulation was shown to be dependent on Cl concentration of the culture solution as well as the duration of the experiment. The data also revealed two processes of rapid Cl accumulation in the leaves of bean plants when a relatively high concentration of this ion is present in the external solution. These are: (a) a rapid Cl accumulation occurring between transplanting and the first harvest; (b) a second rapid Cl accumulation occurring after the fourth harvest to the end of the experiment leading to a toxic concentration of Cl in the leaves. The second rapid absorption period was absent for the other ions derived from salines.
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Hajrasuliha, S. Accumulation and toxicity of chloride in bean plants. Plant Soil 55, 133–138 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02149716
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02149716