The Content of Elements of Mineral Nutrition in Leaf Parts of Different Colour in Plants of the variegata Type

The contents of some elements in green and whitish yellow parts of the leaves of Hedera helix and Acer negundo were examined. The contents of N, P and K were considerably higher in whitish yellow parts of the leaves compared with the green ones, and contrary to Ca in both plant species. Mg behaved like N, P and K in Hedera but like Ca in Acer. The same results were obtained in the leaves which were completely green or whitish yellow. The metabolic activities in different parts of the leaves were evaluated on the basis of the content of the individual elements. Differently coloured parts of the leaves of variegata type show differences not only in morphology and structure but also in their metabolic activity.     

Trace Elements in Human Nutrition

A number of trace elements are required by man, but clear-cut evidence of deficiency has been observed for only iodine and iron. Despite the fact no evidence exists that human diets may be deficient in trace minerals other than iron and iodine, there is an increasing tendency to add more and more minerals to vitamin-mineral preparations. Since potassium iodide is a mandatory constituent of table salt in Canada, iron is apparently the only trace element which may not be consumed in adequate amounts under Canadian conditions, and whose addition to dietary supplements for sale to the general public can be justified. It is suggested that trace elements other than iron should not be advertised to the general public, but should be administered only on the advice of a physician, who is in a position to judge the merit of available products in each specific situation.     

Mineral Elements in the Hair of Amblyopic Children

Amblyopia is a common cause of vision damage in children, and some aspects of its etiology are not clear. A number of mineral elements have important effects on the nerve and visual nerve systems. However, little is known about the relationship between amblyopia and nutritional mineral elements. In this study, hair samples were collected from 67 children with amblyopia and 57 age-matched control groups. The height and weight of each child was measured, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Mineral elements were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. The calcium and magnesium levels in the hair of amblyopic children were higher (p?<?0.006), but the level of manganese were lower compared with those in the control groups (p?<?0.006). Other elements measured were found to have an insignificant difference between the two groups (p?>?0.006). The BMI of amblyopic children was higher (p?<?0.001). These results show that mineral elements may play an important role in the visual development of children. Therefore, studies should pay more attention to investigating the impact of mineral elements on child vision.     

Physiological Studies in Plant Nutrition: XVI. The Mineral Nutrition of Bracken

Part I of this paper describes culture methods for the productionof large numbers of bracken sporelings of uniform size. Observationson the growth of the bracken plant and results of experimentson the mineral nutrition of the prothallial and sporophyte generationsare presented. The presentation of further growth data and afull analysis of the results is deferred to the second partof this paper.     

Mineral Nutrition and Morphine Production in Papaver somniferum

Mineral nutrition of poppy (Paparer somniferum L.) was studied in its effects on morphine production. Hydroponic cultures were carried out with nutritive solutions percolating over sand. The anion NO_3- is the most efficient form of nitrogen for the production of fresh matter, dry matter or total morphine; in the latter respect, it rates higher than the NH₄NO₃ form which, on the other hand, gives higher alkaloid contents, while both cation NH₄⁺ and urea have depressive effects. Phosphates have apparently little effect on the growth of the poppy, but solutions enriched with assimilable phosphate do stimulate flower proliferation and fruit development, without increasing markedly the total morphine output. Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ are important factors; Mg deficiencies will bring about a marked elongation of stems and early flowering, without any notable decrease in morphine outputs; conversely, Ca deficiencies will cause a drop in alkaloid production, while more calcium in the solution will give stronger elongation, a larger number of capsules and a marked increase in the weight of dry matter and morphine outputs, without any marked change in content. Sodium will favour poppy development (flowers and capsules) and will increase both the content and output of morphine. Na⁺ should therefore be introduced whenever possible in the fertilizing of poppy crops.     

Mineral Nitrogen in Plant Physiology and Plant Nutrition

Nitrogen (N) nutrition enhances metabolic processes that influences the physicochemical environment at the soil-root interface, modifies rhizosphere conditions, interferes with the uptake of cations and anions, and enhances or represses the activity of several enzyme systems. Also, it affects growth patterns, protein content, and protein quality of seeds.

Ammonium (NH₄)-N nutrition increases anion uptake, free amino-N/protein ratios, and acidity of root free space; it reduces carbohydrate levels in plant tissues. NO₃-N nutrition results in higher cation uptake, higher carbohydrate content in tissues, and alkalinization of root free space. N-Assimilation interferes with the allocation of dry matter and energy, which causes different growth rates of plant parts.

In this article we review the effects of mineral-N nutrition on uptake of cations and anions, activity of enzymes, growth patterns of roots and shoots, and water use efficiency, protein content, and protein quality of seeds.     

灰绿藜中六种矿物质元素含量的测定

目的：研究了灰绿藜不同部位矿质元素的分布特点及动态变化。方法：采用火焰原子吸收分光光度法对灰绿藜各部位中的K、Ca、Mg、Cu、Fe和Na六种元素的含量进行了测定与分析。结果：从测定结果可见,不同生长时期灰绿藜的各部位,其矿物元素含量不同。随着生长时间变化,各元素在各部位的增长趋势也有升有降。测定结果的相对标准偏差为0.001%～0.580%,回收率为91.51%～114.32%。结论：得出灰绿藜不同部位矿质元素的分布与变化。     

Mineral Nutrition of Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum)

Acacia acuminata is a preferred host of the root hemiparasitictree, Santalum spicatum (sandalwood). Comparison between nutrientcontent of adult trees of sandalwood and results for an earlierstudy of the mistletoe, Amyema preissii, on the same host species,A. acuminata, showed similar high levels of K and Na and lowlevels of Zn in both parasites compared with the host plants.Differences in K, Ca, N and Cu levels between parasitized anduninfected Acacias imply that the host plant contributes tothe nutrition of sandalwood. The high K/Ca ratio in sandalwoodconfirms that K uptake in preference to Ca is a general featureof all categories of angiosperm parasites. Patterns of distribution of nutrients between various partsof sandalwood and A. acuminata depend on the type of nutrient,but levels are usually highest in leaves of both species andthe haustoria. Although K, Ca and Na are much lower in the kernelsthan in vegetative parts of the parasite, only seedlings withoutsupplementary Ca in a nutrient omission experiment failed togrow at all in the absence of hosts. Growth is not dependenton the level of K in the unattached plants but other evidenceindicates it may have a role in water uptake in the attachedplant. Calcium supply has a marked effect on internal Ca levelsand growth of unattached plants. Compared with field plants,levels of Ca, and to a lesser extent Zn, were much higher inplants of the Ca/K treatment that produced greatest growth over34 weeks. Haustorial formation is enhanced by the presence of A. acuminataroots. However, competition for nutrients, especially Ca, fromco-planted A. acuminata seedlings results in suppression ofgrowth of young sandalwood compared with their growth in theabsence of the host species. Key words: Mineral nutrients, Santalum spicatum, Acacia acuminata, hemiparasites, K/Ca nutrition, seeds     

Improving the Mineral Nutrition in Grafted Watermelon Plants: Nitrogen Metabolism

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus [Trumb.] Mansfeld cv. Early Star), was used as scion grafted onto three cultivars of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L. cvs. Brava, Shintoza and Kamel) used as rootstocks and ungrafted Early Star plants were used as control. The rootstocks showed a high capacity for N uptake and transport to the scion where N reduction and assimilation improved growth of the scion in grafted plants with respect to the control.     

Study on Mineral Elements in Salvia roborwskii from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The contents of trace elements, including aluminum, barium, beryllium, calcium, cobaltium, chromium, copper, iron, potassium, lanthanum, lithium, magnesium, manganese, sodium, nickel, phosphorus, lead, sulfur, silicon, titanium, vanadium, and zinc, were determined by ICP-AES. The mean concentrations of the 22 elements were as follows: K>Ca>Mg>Fe>Al>Na>S>P>Ba>Ti>Mn>Zn>Sr>Cu>Ni=Cr>Pb>V>Li=La>Co>Be. Principal components analysis of SPSS was applied to study the characteristic elements in Salvia roborwskii. Five principal components which accounted for 89.288% of the total variance were extracted from the original data. The first factor accounted for 56.401% of the total variance, which meant that aluminum, barium, beryllium, calcium, and cobaltium were the characteristic elements in S. roborwskii. This useful new method was used to evaluate the quality of S. roborwskii, and to provide the scientific foundation for its utilization and further research.     

The Effect of Mineral Nutrition on the Distribution of Growth in Lolium perenne

Ramets of Lolium perenne from the same genotypes were grownin nutrient solutions of two concentrations. Additional mineralnutrition increased the rate of production of new tillers, therate of increase in size of tillers and the rate of productionof new roots, but not the rate of growth of individual mainroots. The genotypes differed considerably from each other intheir rates of growth, especially of shoot growth. When thegrowth-rate of the same population of genotypes was alteredby changing the environmental conditions it was found that thelower the mean rate of shoot growth, the greater its coefficientof variation. Variation in the rate of shoot growth, due tomineral nutrition and genetic constitution of the plants growingin a dilute nutrient solution, was accompanied by a similarbut smaller variation in the number of roots.     

葡萄色顶枝瑚菌中矿质元素及氨基酸含量的测定

采用原子吸收分光光度法和FDBN柱前衍生高效液相色谱等方法测定了葡萄色顶枝瑚菌中的矿质元素、氨基酸和蛋白质的含量。矿质元素K、Ca、Mg、Cu、Zn、Fe的含量分别是 :4 2 .5 0 0 0mg/g、0 .90 0 0mg/g、0 .4 1 3 0mg/g、0 .0 1 1 2mg/g、0 .0 64 3mg/g、0 .0 3 1 7mg/g、0 .0 73 7mg/g;蛋白质含量为 2 8.1 7% ;氨基酸总量为 2 2 6.91mg/g,其中七种必需氨基酸含量占氨基酸总量的 4 9.2 5 %     

Sesamoids and Morphological Variation: a Hypothesis on the Origin of Rod-like Skeletal Elements in Aerial Mammals

Enigmatic rod-like skeletal structures that support compliant membranes (patagia) in aerial mammals have been often considered as neomorphic elements or as evolutionary novelties, and their origin has remained poorly understood. A potential source of skeletal plasticity and, probably, of morphofunctional innovations are sesamoids, which were recently demonstrated to have a common cellular origin with bone eminences. In this review, I compile information regarding anatomy, evolution, and development of rod-like skeletal elements in extant gliding and flying mammals and propose a working hypothesis on the origin of these structures. Rod-like skeletal elements, namely, the calcar in bats (Chiroptera), the unciform element in Anomaluridae (Rodentia), and the styliform cartilage in Pteromyini (Rodentia: Sciuridae), would derive from sesamoids, which, in turn, would have the same origin as eminences of long bones (or bones with a long-bone-like growth), i.e., calcaneus, ulna, and pisiform, respectively. Rod-like skeletal elements exhibit several features of sesamoids. However, further developmental data are needed to confirm this hypothesis, particularly whether these structures share a cellular origin and molecular developmental pathways with sesamoids and bone eminences. If this hypothesis were supported, a new role for sesamoids in generating morphofunctional innovations in mammals and, potentially, in other aerial amniotes, would be recognized. Rod-like skeletal elements, which are key in the evolution of aerial locomotion, might constitute an example of pre-existing traits that acquire novel functions through relatively little developmental plasticity.

     

云南食用玫瑰的矿质元素和氨基酸分析

对云南食用玫瑰中的矿质元素、氨基酸等进行了分析研究。结果表明,食用玫瑰比普通水果含有更丰富的营养物质,具有较高的保健价值,为进一步开发食用玫瑰提供了科学依据。