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Is nitrogen accumulation in grain legumes responsive to growth or ontogeny?
Author(s) -
Marrou Hélène,
Ricaurte Jaumer J.,
Ghanem Michel E.,
Clavijo Michelangeli José A.,
Ghaouti Lamiae,
Rao Idupulapati M.,
Sinclair Thomas R.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
physiologia plantarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.351
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1399-3054
pISSN - 0031-9317
DOI - 10.1111/ppl.12617
Subject(s) - vicia faba , biology , phaseolus , legume , agronomy , ontogeny , growing season , nitrogen fixation , nitrogen , crop , vegetative reproduction , botany , chemistry , genetics , organic chemistry , bacteria
Nitrogen (N) accumulation in legumes is one of the main determinants of crop yield. Although N accumulation from symbiotic nitrogen fixation or N absorption from the soil has been widely investigated, there is no clear consensus on timing of the beginning of N accumulation and the termination of N accumulation and the physiological events that may be associated with these two events. The analyses conducted in this study aimed at identifying the determinant of N accumulation in two grain legume species. Nitrogen accumulation dynamics and mass accumulation and development stages were recorded in the field for several genotypes of common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) and faba bean ( Vicia faba ) under different growing conditions. This study showed that during the vegetative stages, N accumulation rate was correlated with mass accumulation rate. However, the maximum accumulation of N did not correspond to the time of the maximum mass accumulation. In fact, for both species, N accumulation was found to persist in seed growth. This challenges a common hypothesis that seed growth causes a decrease in N accumulation because of a shift of the photosynthate supply to support the seed growth. Even more surprising was the shift of the active accumulation of N in faba bean to late in the growing season as compared with common bean. N accumulation by faba bean only was initiated at high rates very late in vegetative growth and persisted at high rates well into seed fill.