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Nitrate reductase activity in leaves and roots ofAlnus glutinosa (L) Gaertner

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Summary

Thein vivo nitrate reductase activity (NRA) was determined inAlnus glutinosa plants grown nonsymbiotically on ammonium, nitrate, a combination of both, or symbiotically with atmospheric nitrogen as the only nitrogen source. Root NRA was absent when ammonium or atmospheric nitrogen was the nitrogen source. With nitrate in the culture solution the roots showed a high NRA. However, the leaf NRA behaved quite differently: with negligible activities on all nitrogen sources except atmospheric nitrogen. The foliar NRA measured, however, is likely not due to the activity of the plant but of microbial origin. Methods commonly used to facilitate produced nitrite to leak out of the tissue, such as addition of propanol and cutting the plant material, did not increase the nitrite release from the leaves. A turbidity developed when testing the samples for nitrite which was positively correlated with the NRA. Populations of microorganisms in the phyllosphere did not differ between the nutritional treatments. Bacteria, able to grow on a low-nitrogen medium, were present on the leaves. Nitrifiers could not be detected. The bacteria on the leaves appear to produce nitrite when incubated with leaf material.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Physiology, University of Groningen, PO Box 14, 9750 AA, Haren, The Netherlands

    Tjeerd Blacquière

  2. Institute for Ecological Research Department of Dune Research “Weevers Duin”, Duinzoom 20a, 3233 EG, Oostvoorne, The Netherlands

    Sep R. Troelstra

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  1. Tjeerd Blacquière
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  2. Sep R. Troelstra
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Grassland Species Research Group, Publication no. 106

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Blacquière, T., Troelstra, S.R. Nitrate reductase activity in leaves and roots ofAlnus glutinosa (L) Gaertner. Plant Soil 95, 301–313 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02374611

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02374611

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