Summary
The different forms of nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus were measured in the foliar tissue of spruce and black pine seedlings grown in the greenhouse in 3 soils (brown, podzolic and calcareous) with or without a supply of nitrogen.
This paper is a complementary study to our work on adult trees in the same sites, confirms our previous results and leads to the following observations:
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- a nitrogen supply (NH4NO3) resulted in an accumulation of inorganic nitrogen (NH +4 ) and of organic soluble nitrogen in foliar tissue,
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- when the limiting factor for protein synthesis was nitrogen, accumulation of soluble sulphur and soluble phosphorus occurred in foliar tissue,
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- sulphur and nitrogen were strongly linked with protein metabolism while there was relative independence between phosphorus and nitrogen,
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- insoluble sulphur/insoluble nitrogen ratio (SI/NI) was characteristic of each species and was independent of the nitrogen treatment.
In a practical application of foliar diagnosis, foliar soluble contents of nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus in the leaves appeared to be good indicators for determining nutrient levels of these elements in trees.
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Clement, A., Gessel, S.P. N, S, P status and protein synthesis in the foliage of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L) Karst) and Austrian black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold var. nigra). Plant Soil 85, 345–359 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02220190
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02220190