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Studies on mineral ion absorption by plants

III. The interaction of aluminium, phosphate and pH on the growth ofMedicago sativa

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Summary

The effect of Al and P on the growth of lucerne (Medicago sativa) was studied in nutrient solutions in which aluminium phosphate did not precipitate. Al and P retained in the free space of the roots was washed out with 0.1N HCl/O4 at 5°C. The inhibitory effect of Al on growth was much less at pH 5 than at pH 4.5, although 3 to 4 times as much Al was found in the roots and shoots of the pH 5 plants.

It is suggested that the low toxicity of high contents of Al was due to a portion of the uptake at pH 5 being in the form of polymeric aluminophosphate complexes of low net charge density. The optimum pH for the formation and polymerization of such complexes is around 5, and their composition depends on the P/Al mole ratio of the initial solutions. Washing32P-labelled roots in unlabelled P solutions containing Ca showed that 12–43 per cent more of the total label diffused out of the Al-treated roots at pH 5 than from control roots. This was consistent with estimates by solution analysis of 16–36 per cent (depending on the P/Al mole ratio) of the P present in the original uptake solutions being complexed with Al.

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  1. R. E. White

    Present address: Soil Science Laboratory, Department of Agricultural Science, University of Oxford, England

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    R. E. White

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White, R.E. Studies on mineral ion absorption by plants. Plant Soil 46, 195–208 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00693126

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00693126

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