Ionic Balance of Root-Shoot Nitrate Transfer in Dwarf Bean

The Dijkshoorn-Ben Zioni model about potassium recycling in higher plants proposes a stoichiometric coupling between the upward transport of nitrate and potassium, and therefore a 1:1 ratio of these ions in the xylem sap. Phaseolus vulgaris grown in media with different NO₃: K⁺ ratios, however, only rarely showed equimolar concentrations of the two ions in the bleeding sap. Ratios between 0.2 and 11 were observed and the ratios between concentrations of the ions in the exudate and in the external solution were positively correlated. An analysis of the major inorganic constituents of the exudate revealed an ionic balance that requires negligible amounts of charges from organic molecules.