Summary
Sulphur and nitrogen on a gram atom basis occur in organic forms inP. radiata foliage and seeds in a ratio of 0.030 and this is the same as the S:N in the proteins present in the organic material. The ratio is in close agreement with the ratio found by many workers for legumes and gramineous plants. The ratio was found to be constant for a very large number of samples collected over a wide geographic area of south-eastern Australia; for samples collected over a number of years from on and off ash-bed sites; for samples collected at different times of the year; for samples from various parts of the tree crown; and for whole seeds, seed coats and the fleshy part of seeds ofP. radiata.
If total-N is known, organic-S is given by 0.030xtotal-N. This is the level of S actually required for the complete constitution of the plant material. If S is present in excess of this basic requirement, then sulphate-S is present and S is probably adequate. If total-S is not grater than organic-S, then a true S deficiency probably exists. Data on sulphur alone are not enough to assess the status of plants since the amount required is proportional not to the weight of the foliage but to the amount of organic nitrogenous substance to which the S contributes in a fixed proportion.
In theP. radiata samples studied, there was no accumulation of nitrogen over that required to balance the organic-S present and hence it appears that nitrogen is only taken up at the rate at which sulphur is available and protein formation will be limited to the availability of nitrogen.
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Kelly, J., Lambert, M.J. The relationship between sulphur and nitrogen in the foliage ofPinus radiata . Plant Soil 37, 395–407 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02139982
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02139982