Small amounts of ammonium (NH4$^{+}$) can increase growth of maize (Zea mays)
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ArticleAuthors
George, JesseyHoltham, Luke
Sabermanesh, Kasra
Heuer, Sigrid
Tester, Mark A.

Plett, Darren
Garnett, Trevor
KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) DivisionCenter for Desert Agriculture
Plant Science
Plant Science Program
The Salt Lab
Date
2016-09-16Online Publication Date
2016-09-16Print Publication Date
2016-12Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/622124
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Nitrate (NOequation image) and ammonium (NHequation image) are the predominant forms of nitrogen (N) available to plants in agricultural soils. Nitrate concentrations are generally ten times higher than those of NHequation image and this ratio is consistent across a wide range of soil types. The possible contribution of these small concentrations of NHequation image to the overall N budget of crop plants is often overlooked. In this study the importance of this for the growth and nitrogen budget of maize (Zea mays L.) was investigated, using agriculturally relevant concentrations of NHequation image. Maize inbred line B73 was grown hydroponically for 30 d at low (0.5 mM) and sufficient (2.5 mM) levels of NOequation image. Ammonium was added at 0.05 mM and 0.25 mM to both levels of NOequation image. At low NOequation image levels, addition of NHequation image was found to improve the growth of maize plants. This increased plant growth was accompanied by an increase in total N uptake, as well as total phosphorus, sulphur and other micronutrients in the shoot. Ammonium influx was higher than NOequation image influx for all the plants and decreased as the total N in the nutrient medium increased. This study shows that agriculturally relevant proportions of NHequation image supplied in addition to NOequation image can increase growth of maize.Citation
George, J., Holtham, L., Sabermanesh, K., Heuer, S., Tester, M., Plett, D., & Garnett, T. (2016). Small amounts of ammonium (NH$ _4^+ $) can increase growth of maize (Zea mays). Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 179(6), 717–725. doi:10.1002/jpln.201500625Sponsors
The authors would like to acknowledge the technical assistance provided by research and technical staff at Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) and Plant Research Centre in the University of Adelaide. This study was funded by the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG), the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), and Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP130101055).Publisher
WileyAdditional Links
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jpln.201500625/abstracthttps://rss.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1002/jpln.201500625
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1002/jpln.201500625