Abstract
The aluminium (Al) tolerance of 34 temperate legume species (143 genotypes, including 57 from Trifolium repens) was determined in 60 experiments over a 3 year period in a low ionic strength (2.7 × 10-3 M) solution culture. For each genotype, the relationship between solution Al3+ activity (μM) and relative yield was determined and the Al3+ activity associated with a 50% reduction in yield (AlRY50) calculated. In addition, plant chemical concentrations were determined in at least one genotype from most species. For white clover, AlRY50 over all genotypes had an approximately normal distribution with mean of 1.31 μM for the tops and 1.51 μM for the roots, and a standard deviation of about 0.4. This suggested that Al tolerance had a polygenic inheritance. For the other species tested, AlRY50 ranged from 0.15 to 4.53 μM in the tops and from 0.21 to 4.89 μM in the roots. In the tops and roots, 37% and 26% respectively of the genotypes had an AlRY50 less than 1 μM, including all species tested in the genera Melilotus and Medicago. Only 8% or 23% of the genotypes, based on the tops and roots respectively, had an AlRY50 greater than 2, including all genotypes in the species Lotus pedunculatus. Except for Lotus, there were no consistent differences between genera in plant chemical concentrations. In Lotus, concentrations of Ca, Zn, Mn and Cu in the tops and of all elements except B in the roots were lower than that of the other species. The AlRY50 of the species was not related to plant chemical concentrations in the absence of Al. Depending on the plant element, increasing solution Al concentrations had no significant effect on plant chemical concentrations for 56–94% of the species. When a significant effect did occur, increasing Al in solution generally decreased S and K concentrations and increased Mn, Zn, Cu Fe, B and Al concentrations in the tops and roots and decreased Ca concentrations in the tops. Plant P concentrations decreased in the tops but increased in the roots. Increasing Al in solution increase plant Al at the average rate of 44 μg g-1 μM -1 (range 20–87) in the tops and 333 μg μM -1 (range 162–616) in the roots.
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Wheeler, D.M., Dodd, M.B. Effect of aluminium on yield and plant chemical concentrations of some temperate legumes. Plant Soil 173, 133–145 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00155525
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00155525