Influence of Iron on Respiration in Corn (Zea Mays) Seedlings

In this paper the influence of iron in different concentrations of FeCl3 solution on the respiration of corn (Zea mays) seedlings was observed. The following variants were used: V1 – as control, V2 = 0.1%FeCl3, V3 = 0.5%FeCl3, V4= 1%FeCl3. The respiration intensity of the 4 variants was determined applying the confined atmosphere procedure (Boysen-Jensen). This is a method based on determining the quantity of produced CO2. In case of this procedure, the contact between vegetal material and atmosphere takes place in a closed recipient, in which CO2 - resulted from respiration – is fixed by a solution of Ba(OH)2. An increase of the respiration intensity was noted, proportional with the increase of the administered FeCl3 solution concentration. Iron ion enters in the structure of cytochromes, which are components of the respiratory chain. Its presence in the growing environment of the corn seedlings led to the respiration increase. The intensity increase quickly evolves with low concentrations of iron, for example the variant with a concentration of 0.1% salt of FeCl3, for which it increased with 184% compared to the control, as the increase intensifies at concentrations of 0.5% with 259%. We note that in the last case, when iron is in the highest concentration of 1%FeCl3, the increase is no more so heightened, as it is higher with only 128% versus the previous variant. Iron highly stimulates the respiration up to a certain concentration, it was remarked