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- Title
Physiological response of plants to low boron
- Authors
Dell, B.; Huang, L.
- Abstract
This review focuses on physiological responses in higher plants to Bdeficiency at the whole plant and organ level. Plants respond to decreasing B supply in soil solutions by slowing down or ceasing growth.Boron deficiency inhibits root elongation through limiting cell enlargement and cell division in the growing zone of root tips. In the case of severe B deficiency, the root cap, quiescent centre and protoderm of root tips disappear and root growth ceases, leading to the death of root tips. Although vascular bundles are weakly developed in B-deficient roots, early effects of B deficiency on their initiation anddifferentiation is poorly understood. Inhibited leaf expansion by low B indirectly decreases the photosynthetic capacity of plants, though exact roles of B in photosynthesis remain to be explored. The earlyinhibition of root growth, compared to shoot growth, increases the shoot:root ratio. It is hypothesised that this may enhance the susceptibility of plants to environmental stresses such as marginally deficient supplies of other nutrients and water deficit in soil. In the field, sexual reproduction is often more sensitive to low soil B than vegetative growth, and marked seed yield reductions can occur without symptoms being expressed during prior vegetative growth. In flowers, low B reduces male fertility primarily by impairing microsporogenesis and pollen tube growth. Post-fertilisation effects include impaired embryogenesis, resulting in seed abortion or the formation of incomplete or damaged embryos, and malformed fruit. However, there is a greatdiversity of effects of low B on reproductive growth among species, and within the same species between sites and seasons. Much of this diversity is not explained by the current literature. Key processes inreproductive development which may be impaired under B deficiency are proposed and discussed. These include the formation of a diverse array of cell wall types, the supply of carbohydrates for growth and storage
- Subjects
CHEMISTRY; PLANT physiology
- Publication
Plant & Soil, 1997, Vol 193, Issue 1/2, p103
- ISSN
0032-079X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1023/A:1004264009230