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Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effect of N supply on the carbon economy of barley when accounting for plant size

Ana Clarissa Alves Negrini https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5149-9225 A E , John R. Evans B , Brent N. Kaiser C , A. Harvey Millar D , Buddhima C. Kariyawasam A and Owen K. Atkin A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Research School of Biology, Building 134, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

B Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, Building 134, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

C Centre for Carbon, Water and Food, School of Life and Environmental Science, The University of Sydney, Brownlow Hill, New South Wales 2070, Australia.

D Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, School of Molecular Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.

E Corresponding author. Email: ana.alves@anu.edu.au

Functional Plant Biology 47(4) 368-381 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP19025
Submitted: 22 January 2019  Accepted: 2 December 2019   Published: 6 March 2020

Abstract

Nitrogen availability and ontogeny both affect the relative growth rate (RGR) of plants. In this study of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) we determined which growth parameters are affected by nitrate (N) availability, and whether these were confounded by differences in plant size, reflecting differences in growth. Plants were hydroponically grown on six different nitrate (N) concentrations for 28 days, and nine harvests were performed to assess the effect of N on growth parameters. Most growth parameters showed similar patterns of responses to N supply whether compared at common time points or common plant sizes. N had a significant effect on the biomass allocation: increasing N increased leaf mass ratio (LMR) and decreased root mass ratio (RMR). Specific leaf area (SLA) was not significantly affected by N. RGR increased with increasing N supply up to 1 mM, associated with increases in both LMR and net assimilation rate (NAR). Increases in N supply above 1 mM did not increase RGR as increases in LMR were offset by decreases in NAR. The high RGR at suboptimal N supply suggest a higher nitrogen use efficiency (biomass/N supply). The reasons for the homeostasis of growth under suboptimal N levels are discussed.

Key words: biomass allocation, growth analysis, ontogeny, phenotypic plasticity, specific leaf area.


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