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Absorption of atmospheric NO 2 by several herbaceous species: estimation by the 15 N dilution method
Author(s) -
OKANO K.,
MACHIDA T.,
TOTSUKA T.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1988.tb03709.x
Subject(s) - sunflower , herbaceous plant , sorghum , helianthus annuus , absorption (acoustics) , nitrogen , dilution , carbon dioxide , chemistry , botany , agronomy , zoology , biology , acoustics , physics , organic chemistry , thermodynamics
SUMMARY Absorption of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ,) by eight herbaceous species was determined by the 15 N dilution method. The plants were continuously exposed to NO 2 , at 0.5 μll −1 for 2 weeks. Susceptibility to NO 2 , was simultaneously examined in the tested species to see if this was correlated with the rate of absorption. The total amount of NO 2 ‐nitrogen absorbed by a plant during the 2‐week exposure period primarily depended on the size of the plant. Among the tested species, sunflower showed the highest rate of NO 2 , absorption per unit leaf area, reaching as much as 0.55 mg N dm −2 d −1 , which was about four times greater than that for sorghum which had the lowest rate. A highly significant correlation was observed between the rate of absorption and the stomatal conductance among the species. A proportion of the NO 2 ‐nitrogen accumulated in the plant might be absorbed via the air‐soil‐root route. Sunflower and radish which had higher rates of NO 2 absorption than the other species were more susceptible to NO 2 . On the contrary, sorghum and maize which showed a lower rate of NO 2 , absorption were tolerant. Consequently, the higher susceptibility to NO 2 of radish and sunflower is considered to be directly related to their superior ability to absorb NO 2 .