Summary
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(1)
A method is presented which enables the magnitude and extent of the surface effects in respiration and salt absorption to be calculated for cylindrical discs of storage tissue.
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(2)
Respiration data previously presented are analysed and it is confirmed that discs of potato have a limited zone of high respiration rate. The depth of this zone is determined by the treatment and is constant for any one treatment irrespective of the dimensions of the discs.
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(3)
Discs respiring in air have a surface zone of high respiration which penetrates more deeply than that for discs in aqueous solutions. Discs respiring in air after preliminary washing are intermediate in this respect. The precise dimensions are given in the text. The respiratory behaviour of potato discs over a wide range of thicknesses and for several treatments has been consistently interpreted.
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(4)
Salt absorption by immersed discs is confined in the cases examined to surface cells which exhibit conspicuously increased respiration, caused primarily by access of oxygen, and from which marked disappearance of starch may be seen microscopically. The absorbed salt only accumulated in the two outer layers of cells though relatively large total amounts were absorbed.
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(5)
The theoretical importance of these surface effects in physiological investigations is emphasised. Some theoretical observations on salt absorption are made in the text.
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The writer wishes to acknowledge that certain useful suggestions were brought out during discussion of these problems with Mr. W. E.Berry of the Botany Dept., University of Leeds.
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Steward, F.C. The absorption and accumulation of solutes by living plant cells. Protoplasma 17, 436–453 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01604106
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01604106