biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 45:241-247, 2002 | DOI: 10.1023/A:1015100924171

Nitrogen Deprivation Induces Changes in the Leaf Elongation Zone of Maize Seedlings

V.R. Tóth¹, I. Mészáros¹, S.J. Palmer², Sz. Veres¹, I. Précsényi¹

¹ Department of Botany, Debrecen University, Debrecen, Hungary

² Institute of Environmental and Natural Sciences, Lancaster University, Lancashire, UK

The influence of nitrogen deprivation on leaf development and the biomechanics of leaf growth were studied using maize (Zea mays L.) seedlings grown under low irradiance. Although the nitrogen deprivation had no significant effect on photosynthesis, the leaf length, the leaf area, and the total assimilation area of plants decreased. The mature size of the epidermal cells was not altered, while the cells of nitrogen-deprived plants reached their final length closer to the leaf base than the epidermal cells of control plants. Decreases in the length of the growing zone (from 50 to 30 mm) and in the maximum value of relative elemental growth rate (from 0.08 to 0.06 mm mm^-1 h^-1) were observed in the nitrogen deprived plants. The maximal value of growth velocity in the control treatment was higher along the elongation zone, except for the basal 20 mm, where there was no significant difference between the control and the N-deprived plants. The net deposition rates of water and dry matter were also affected by nitrogen deprivation: the values of these features decreased and the spatial position of the maximum of the deposition rates shifted towards the leaf base.

Keywords: epidermal cell size; maize leaf growth; photosynthesis; relative elemental growth rate; Zea mays

Subjects: epidermal cell size, nitrogen deprivation; gas exchange, nitrogen deprivation, growth analysis; growth analysis; leaf elongation zone, nitrogen deprivation; maize, nitrogen deprivation, leaf elongation; nitrogen deprivation, leaf elongation zone, photosynthesis; Zea mays

Published: June 1, 2002  Show citation