Application of ionomics to plant and soil in fields under long-term fertilizer trials

Abstract

Ionomics is the study of elemental accumulation in living organisms using high-throughput elemental profiling. In the present study, we examined the ionomic responses to nutrient deficiency in maize grown in the field in long-term fertilizer trials. Furthermore, the available elements in the field soils were analyzed to investigate their changes under long-term fertilizer treatment and the ionomic relationships between plant and soil. Maize was cultivated in a field with the following five long-term fertilizer treatments: complete fertilization, fertilization without nitrogen, without phosphorus, without potassium, and no fertilization. Concentrations of 22 elements in leaves at an early flowering stage and in soils after harvest were determined. The fertilizer treatments changed the availabilities of many elements in soils. For example, available cesium was decreased by 39 % and increased by 126 % by fertilizations without nitrogen and potassium, respectively. Effects of treatments on the ionome in leaves were evaluated using the translocation ratio (the concentration in leaves relative to the available concentration in soils) for each element. Nitrogen deficiency specifically increased the uptake ability of molybdenum, which might induce the enhancement of nitrogen assimilation and/or endophytic nitrogen fixation in plant. Potassium deficiency drastically enhanced the uptake ability of various cationic elements. These elements might act as alternatives to K in osmoregulation and counterion of organic/inorganic anions. Two major groups of elements were detected by multivariate analyses of plant ionome. Elements in the same group may be linked more or less in uptake and/or translocation systems. No significant correlation between plant and soil was found in concentrations of many elements, even though various soil extraction methods were applied, implying that the interactions between the target and other elements in soil must be considered when analyzing mineral dynamics between plant and soil.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-015-1562-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Determination of changes in the concentration and distribution of elements within olive drupes (cv. Leccino) from Se biofortified plants, using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

“…With respect to the untreated control group, the content of Li in the edible parts decreased but not significantly, whereas the Na content increased significantly in all the fruit parts, except the edible ones. Literature data does not support the presence of an interaction between Se and Li in plants; they may however, partly share the same transport system in plant cells 30,31 and therefore the intake of Na as sodium selenate may cause a decrease in Li intake in olives.…”

The dynamic state of the ionome in roots, nodules, and shoots of soybean under different nitrogen status and at different growth stages

“…The soil pH was measured in a suspension of soil and Milli‐Q water (1 : 2.5, w/v) using a pH‐EC meter (MP220, Mettler Toledo, Japan). The concentrations of available elements in the soil were determined by extracting 2 g of air‐dried soil with 40 mL of 1 M ammonium acetate ( Watanabe et al, 2015). The mixture was shaken for 1 h and then filtered through filter paper (No.…”

Variation in the angiosperm ionome

“…In general, when growth is limited by a particular nutrient, plants accumulate elements supplied in excess of requirements (Sterner and Elser , Hawkesford et al , Broadley et al , ). The effects of nutrient deficiencies on the ionomes of many plant species have been documented (Sorreano , Baxter et al , Parent et al , Tomasi et al , Pii et al , Watanabe et al , Maillard et al , Campos et al ). It has been proposed that alterations in the ionome might be used to diagnose particular physiological conditions, such as mineral deficiencies, much more accurately than assays of single elements (Baxter et al , Parent et al , , Pii et al , Campos et al ), but it has yet to be proven that the ionomes of all angiosperms respond similarly to nutrient deficiencies.…”