pH dependent salinity-boron interactions impact yield, biomass, evapotranspiration and boron uptake in broccoli (Brassica oleracea L.)

Aims

Soil pH is known to influence many important biochemical processes in plants and soils, however its role in salinity—boron interactions affecting plant growth and ion relations has not been examined. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the interactive effects of salinity, boron and soil solution pH on broccoli (Brassica oleracea L.) growth, yield, consumptive water use and shoot-boron accumulation.

Methods

A greenhouse experiment was conducted using a sand tank system where salinity-B-pH treatment solutions were supplemented with a complete nutrient solution. Sulfate-dominated irrigation waters, characteristic of groundwater in California’s San Joaquin valley (SJV), were tested at EC levels of 2, 5, 8, 11 and 14 dS?m^?1. Each salinity treatment consisted of two boron treatments (0.5 and 21 mg?L^?1) and each of those treatments was tested under slightly basic (pH?8.0) and slightly acidic (pH?6.0) conditions.

Results

Results included multiple salinity-boron-pH interactions affecting shoot biomass, head yield and consumptive water use. Broccoli fresh head yields were significantly reduced by salinity and boron, but the degree of yield reductions was influenced by pH. Relative head yields were substantially reduced in treatments with high pH and high B, particularly under low and high salinity where head yields were decreased by 89 % and 96 %, respectively, relative to those at low salinity and low boron. Intermediate levels of salinity were far less damaging. Increased salinity and boron reduced evapotranspiration (ET) and there were no salinity-boron associated interactions on ET. However, increased salinity and boron concentrations increased water use efficiency (shoot biomass/cumulative volume ET). Shoot B concentration increased with increased boron and was greater at pH?6 as compared to pH?8. Shoot boron concentration decreased with increasing salinity at both pH levels but particularly at the high substrate boron concentration.

Conclusions

It is likely that different mechanisms, yet unknown, are responsible for severe head-yield reductions at low and high salinity in the presence of high boron under alkaline conditions. We found that boron in the shoot did not accumulate by a simple passive process. Rather as boron increased from 0.5 to 21 mg?L^?1, there was a restrictive mechanism where total shoot boron (mg plant^?1) was reduced by 10 to 40 times the amount potentially supplied to the shoot by passive transport via mass flow perhaps involving complex interactions with membrane channels and B exporters. Total shoot boron concentration was a poor indicator of plant growth response.     

Foliar and root absorption of Na+ and Cl− in maize and barley: Implications for salt tolerance screening and the use of saline sprinkler irrigation

Above-canopy sprinkler irrigation with saline water favours the absorption of salts by wetted leaves and this can cause a yield reduction additional to that which occurs in salt-affected soils. Outdoor pot experiments with both sprinkler and drip irrigation systems were conducted to determine foliar ion accumulation and performance of maize and barley plants exposed to four treatments: nonsaline control (C), salt applied only to the soil (S), salt applied only to the foliage (F) and salt applied to both the soil and to the foliage (F+S). The EC of the saline solution employed for maize in 1993 was 4.2 dS m^–1 (30 mM NaCl and 2.8 mM CaCl₂) and for barley in 1994, 9.6 dS m^–1 (47 mM NaCl and 23.5 mM CaCl₂). The soil surface of all pots was covered so that in the F treatment the soil was not salinized by the saline sprinkling and drip irrigation supplied nutrients in either fresh (treatments C and F) or saline water (treatments S and F+S).Saline sprinkling increased leaf sap Na⁺ concentrations much more than did soil salinity, especially in maize, even though the saline sprinkling was given only two or three times per week for 30 min, whereas the roots of plants grown in saline soil were continuously exposed to salinity. By contrast, leaf sap Cl^– concentrations were increased similarly by saline sprinkling and soil salinity in maize, and more by saline sprinkling than saline soil in barley. It is concluded that barley leaves, and to a greater extent maize leaves, lack the ability to selectively exclude Na⁺ when sprinkler irrigated with saline water. Moreover, maize leaves selectively absorbed Na⁺ over Cl^– whereas barley leaves showed no selectivity. When foliar and root absorption processes were operating together (F+S treatment) maize and barley leaves accumulated 11–14% less Na⁺ and Cl^– than the sum of individual absorption processes (treatment F plus treatment S) indicating a slight interaction between the absorption processes. Vegetative biomass at maturity and cumulative plant water use were significantly reduced by saline sprinkling. In maize, reductions in biomass and plant water use relative to the control were of similar magnitude for plants exposed only to saline sprinkling, or only to soil salinity; whereas in barley, saline sprinkling was more detrimental than was soil salinity. We suggest that crops that are salt tolerant because they possess root systems which efficiently restrict Na⁺ and Cl^– transport to the shoot, may not exhibit the same tolerance in sprinkler systems which wet the foliage with saline water. ei]T J Flowers     

Regional Variation in γ-Aminobutyric Acid Turnover: Effect of Castration on γ-Aminobutyric Acid Turnover in Microdissected Brain Regions of the Male Rat

Abstract: This study compared the turnover of GABA neurons in different brain areas of the male rat and examined the effect of castration on GABA turnover in regions of the brain associated with the control of gonadotropin secretion. To estimate GABA turnover, GABA was quantified by HPLC in microdissected brain regions 0,30,60,90, and 120 min after inhibition of GABA degradation by aminooxyacetic acid (100 mg/kg, i.p.). GABA accumulation was linear in all areas for 90 min ( p < 0.01), and GABA turnover was estimated as the slope of the line formed by increased GABA concentration versus time, determined by linear regression. There was considerable regional variation both in the initial steady-state concentrations of GABA and in the rates of GABA turnover. Of 10 discrete brain structures, GABA turnover was highest in the medial preoptic nucleus and lowest in the caudate nucleus. Turnover times in the terminal fields of known GABAergic projection neurons ranged sevenfold, from 2.6 h in the substantia nigra to 0.4 h in the lateral vestibular nucleus. The effect of castration on GABA turnover in 13 microdissected brain regions was investigated by measuring regional GABA concentrations before and 30 min after injection of aminooxyacetic acid in intact rats or 2 or 6 days postcastration. Following castration, steady-state GABA concentrations were increased, and GABA turnover decreased in the diagonal band of Broca, the medial preoptic area, and the median eminence. GABA turnover increased in the medial septal nucleus and was unaffected in the cortex, striatum, and hindbrain. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that testosterone negative-feedback control of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone involves steroid-sensitive GABAergic neurons in the rostral and medial basal hypothalamus.     

Zinc retention differs between primary and transformed cells in response to zinc deprivation

Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that reducing the availability of zinc with the extracellular metal chelator DTPA (diethylenetriaminepentaacetate) enhances, rather than inhibits, the thyroid hormone induction of growth hormone mRNA in GH3 rat anterior pituitary tumor cells. To understand the actions of the chelator on cellular zinc status, we observed the effects of DTPA on ⁶⁵Zn uptake and retention. DTPA reduced the uptake of ⁶⁵Zn by GH3 cells from the medium, but when GH3 cells were prelabeled with ⁶⁵Zn, it resulted in greater retention of the isotope. In primary hepatocytes, DTPA both reduced the uptake of ⁶⁵Zn from the medium and increased efflux from prelabeled cells. To investigate this difference, we studied the effects of DTPA on radioactive zinc flux in the H4IIE (rat hepatoma), MCF-7 (human breast cancer) and Hs578Bst (nontransformed human mammary) cell lines and in rat primary anterior pituitary cells. DTPA reduced the uptake of ⁶⁵Zn in all cell lines examined. DTPA increased the retention of ⁶⁵Zn in prelabeled H4IIE, MCF-7 and Hs578Bst cells but reduced it in primary pituitary cells. Time course experiments showed that ⁶⁵Zn efflux is shut down rapidly by DTPA in transformed cells, whereas the chelator causes greater efflux from primary hepatocytes over the first 6 h. Experiments with ¹⁴C-labeled DTPA confirmed that this chelator does not cross cell membranes, showing that it operates entirely within the medium. Expression of ZnT-1, the efflux transporter, was not affected by DTPA in H4IIE cells. Thus, zinc deprivation enhanced zinc retention in established cell lines but increased efflux from primary cells, perhaps reflecting differing requirements for this mineral.     

Isolation and sequence analysis of the Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato gene encoding a 2,3-diphosphoglycerate-independent phosphoglyceromutase.

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3481, a Tn5-induced mutant of the tomato pathogen DC3000, cannot grow and elicit disease symptoms on tomato seedlings. It also cannot grow on minimal medium containing malate, citrate, or succinate, three of the major organic acids found in tomatoes. We report here that this mutant also cannot use, as a sole carbon and/or energy source, a wide variety of hexoses and intermediates of hexose catabolism. Uptake studies have shown that DC3481 is not deficient in transport. A 3.8-kb EcoRI fragment of DC3000 DNA, which complements the Tn5 mutation, has been cloned and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequences of two of the three open reading frames (ORFs) present on this fragment, ORF2 and ORF3, had no significant homology with sequences in the GenBank databases. However, the 510-amino-acid sequence of ORF1, the site of the Tn5 insertion, strongly resembled the deduced amino acid sequences of the Bacillus subtilis and Zea mays genes encoding 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (DPG)-independent phosphoglyceromutase (PGM) (52% identity and 72% similarity and 37% identity and 57% similarity, respectively). PGMs not requiring the cofactor DPG are usually found in plants and algae. Enzyme assays confirmed that P. syringae PGM activity required an intact ORF1. Not only is DC3481 the first PGM-deficient pseudomonad mutant to be described, but the P. syringae pgm gene is the first gram-negative bacterial gene identified that appears to code for a DPG-independent PGM. PGM activity appears essential for the growth and pathogenicity of P. syringae pv. tomato on its host plant.     

Acute gastroenteritis and enteric viruses in hospitalised children in southern Brazil: aetiology,seasonality and clinical outcomes

Viral acute gastroenteritis (AG) is a significant cause of hospitalisation inchildren younger than five years. Group A rotavirus (RVA) is responsible for 30% ofthese cases. Following the introduction of RVA immunisation in Brazil in 2006, adecreased circulation of this virus has been observed. However, AG remains animportant cause of hospitalisation of paediatric patients and only limited data areavailable regarding the role of other enteric viruses in these cases. We conducted aprospective study of paediatric patients hospitalised for AG. Stool samples werecollected to investigate human adenovirus (HAdV), RVA, norovirus (NoV) and astrovirus(AstV). NoV typing was performed by nucleotide sequencing and phylogenetic analysis.From the 225 samples tested, 60 (26%) were positive for at least one viral agent.HAdV, NoV, RVA and AstV were detected in 16%, 8%, 6% and 0% of the samples,respectively. Mixed infections were found in nine patients: HAdV/RVA (5), HAdV/NoV(3) and HAdV/NoV/RVA (1). The frequency of fever and lymphocytosis was significantlyhigher in virus-infected patients. Phylogenetic analysis of NoV indicated that all ofthese viruses belonged to genotype GII.4. The significant frequency of thesepathogens in patients with AG highlights the need to routinely implement laboratoryinvestigations.