Abstract
The process of symbiotic nitrogen fixation, though of obvious advantage to legumes in situations in which nitrogen is limiting, results in substantial penalty to the host plant in terms of cost of maintenance, synthesis and nitrogen reduction. Accurate estimates of costs are difficult to obtain because of the lack of simple methods to measure N2 fixation and associated energy consumption. In relation to these difficulties, a multiple-step approach involving isotopes (14CO2−15N2) methodologies is described.
The estimation of net respiratory cost associated with the N2 reduction activity in near-natural conditions was achieved using simultaneous14CO2 and15N2 labelling. It gives a minimum value of 2.5 mg C/mg N fixed. This value was corrected by the estimation of the amount of carbon saved through the process of CO2 fixation by the PEP carboxylase of the nodules, using14CO2 in the soil atmosphere. This gives a real respiratory cost of 4 mg C/mg N fixed.
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Abbreviations
- IRGA:
-
Infrared Gas Analyser
- PEP:
-
Phosphoenolypyruvate
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Warembourg, F.R., Roumet, C. Why and how to estimate the cost of symbiotic N2 fixation? A progressive approach based on the use of14C and15N isotopes. Plant Soil 115, 167–177 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02202585
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02202585