Nitrate Inhibition of Legume Nodule Growth and Activity

Soybean plants (Glycine max [L.] Merr) were grown in sand culture with 2 millimolar nitrate for 37 days and then supplied with 15 millimolar nitrate for 7 days. Control plants received 2 millimolar nitrate and 13 millimolar chloride and, after the 7-day treatment period, all plants were supplied with nil nitrate. The temporary treatment with high nitrate inhibited nitrogenase (acetylene reduction) activity by 80% whether or not Rhizobium japonicum bacteroids had nitrate reductase (NR) activity. The pattern of nitrite accumulation in nodules formed by NR(+) rhizobia was inversely related to the decrease and recovery of nitrogenase activity. However, nitrite concentration in nodules formed by NR(-) rhizobia appeared to be too low to explain the inhibition of nitrogenase. Carbohydrate composition was similar in control nodules and nodules receiving 15 millimolar nitrate suggesting that the inhibition of nitrogenase by nitrate was not related to the availability of carbohydrate.Nodules on plants treated with 15 millimolar nitrate contained higher concentrations of amino N and, especially, ureide N than control nodules and, after withdrawal of nitrate, reduced N content of treated and control nodules returned to similar levels. The accumulation of N(2) fixation products in nodules in response to high nitrate treatment was observed with three R. japonicum strains, two NR(+) and one NR(-). The high nitrate treatment did not affect the allantoate/allantoin ratio or the proportion of amino N or ureide N in bacteroids (4%) and cytosol (96%).