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Ammonium nutrition increases photosynthesis rate under water stress at early development stage of rice (Oryza sativa L.)

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Abstract

An hydroponic experiment with a simulated water stress induced by PEG (6000) was conducted in a greenhouse to study the effects of nitrate (NO3 −), ammonium (NH4 +) and the mixture of NO3 − and NH4 +, on water stress tolerance of rice seedlings. Rice (Shanyou 63) was grown under non- or simulated water stress condition (10% (w/v) PEG, MW6000) with the 3 different N forms during 4 weeks. Under non-stressed condition no difference was observed among the N treatments. Under simulated water stress, seedlings grown on N-NO3 − were stunted. Addition of PEG did not affect rice seedling growth in the treatment of only NH4 + supply but slightly inhibited the rice seedling growth in the treatment of mixed supply of NO3 − and NH4 +. Simulated water stress, when only N-NH4 + was present, did not affect leaf area and photosynthesis rate, however, both parameters decreased significantly in the NO3 − containing solutions. Under water stress, Rubisco content in newly expanded leaves significantly increased in the sole NH4 + supplied plants as compared to that in plants of the other two N treatments. Under water stress, the ratio of carboxylation efficiency to Rubisco content was, respectively, decreased by 13 and 23% in NH4 + and NO3 − treatments, respectively. It is concluded that, water stress influenced the Rubisco activity than stomatal limitation, and this effects could be regulated by N forms.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. Dr. Burkhard Sattelmacher (08,6,1947-11,21,2005), Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, Kiel University, Germany, for his suggestions and encouragements in this study. We thank Prof. Kafakfi for correct reading of this paper. This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2005CB121101), National Nature Science Foundation of China (30390082, 30400279, 30671233) and International Foundation for Science (IFS, C/3799-1).

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  1. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Shiwei Guo, Gui Chen, Yi Zhou & Qirong Shen

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  1. Shiwei Guo
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  2. Gui Chen
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Correspondence to Qirong Shen.

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Responsible Editor: Herbert Johannes Kronzucker.

Shiwei Guo and Gui Chen contributed equally to this paper.

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Guo, S., Chen, G., Zhou, Y. et al. Ammonium nutrition increases photosynthesis rate under water stress at early development stage of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Plant Soil 296, 115–124 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-007-9302-9

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