Hydrogen Sulphide: Emission and Utilization by Plants

  • K. C. Lakkineni
  • A. Ahmad
  • Y. P. Abrol
Chapter

Abstract

Plants take up sulphur from both pedospheric and atmospheric sources. Both excessive and deficient conditions of sulphur level in plants causes imbalances in physiological processes, and thus, negatively affect the plant growth. To adapt to these conditions, plants possess physiological plasticity and developed different strategies, viz. avoidance, compartmentation and volatilization. Emission of volatile sulphur by plants appears to be responsible for maximum amount of sulphur that are thought to enter the atmosphere by natural process, and hydrogen sulphide is the major volatile sulphur-containing compound emitted by cells of higher plants. In case of sulphur deficient condition, which is prevalent in most agricultural soils world over, plants are also able to utilize atmospheric H2S for growth. H2S can, to a considerable extent, replace pedospheric sulphate as a source of sulphur. Thus, plants have potential for both synthesis and consumption of hydrogen sulphide. In this chapter, we will describe in detail the mechanism of H2S emission and utilization by plants that will help to develop strategies for usefulness of the channeling of extra sulphur into specific sulphur pool in order to improve crop quality by using molecular biology tools.

Keywords

Hydrogen Sulphide Sulphur Metabolism Backhuys Publisher Sulfur Nutrition Cucurbit Plant 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2003

Authors and Affiliations

  • K. C. Lakkineni
    • 1
  • A. Ahmad
    • 2
  • Y. P. Abrol
    • 2
  1. 1.St-Laurent, MontrealCanada
  2. 2.Department of Environmental BotanyHamdard UniversityNew DelhiIndia

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