Toxic concentrations of boron in a red-brown earth at Gladstone, South Australia

Abstract

Severe leaf blotching in a crop of barley growing on a red-brown earth (Calcic Rhodoxeralf) was closely associated with high concentrations of boron in the soil. No infection by fungal pathogens capable of accounting for the symptoms was found. Of 14 elements determined in the plants only accumulation of high-concentrations of boron was associated with the disorder. Boron concentrations in saturation extracts of subsoil ranged up to 17.9 �g boron/cm3 under plants that were severely affected, and plants sampled just prior to anthesis contained up to 96 fig boron/g (mean 62.4). Plants that were only slightly affected contained less than 15 �g boron/g (mean 13.8). Grain yield was depressed by 17% due to the boron toxicity. This is only the second report of boron toxicity due to naturally occurring boron in Australia, and the first for a red-brown earth.

Boron toxicity tolerance in wheat and barley: Australian perspectives

“…Accepted October 20, 2010 (Government of South Australia, Department of Environment and Natural Resources 2004). In South Australia, yield penalties of up to (11%) have been reported for wheat (Moody et al 1993) and similar figures (17%) have been attributed to differences in shoot B concentration between adjacent areas of barley (Cartwright et al 1984), although more recent studies with barley could not confirm these findings (Emebiri et al 2009, McDonald et al 2009). B toxicity in crops is also a significant problem in irrigated environments, where groundwater application contributes to the accumulation of excess B in the soil (Bañuelos 1996, Goldberg et al 2003.…”

Role of overexpressed BOR4, a boron exporter, in tolerance to high level of boron in shoots

“…High-B soils are distributed over semi-arid areas of the world including southern Australia, west Asia and North Africa, North America (California) and South America (Chile) (Gupta et al 1995;Nable et al 1997). According to an early study by Cartwright et al (1984), up to 17 % of yield loss of barley was estimated to result from B toxicity in southern Australia. Therefore, breeding programs have been conducted, including physiological comparison among cultivars and QTL mapping, particularly for barley (Hordeum vulgare) (Jefferies et al, 1999;Karakousis et al 2003), wheat (Triticum aestivum) (Jefferies et al 2000) and rice (Oryza sativa) (Ochiai et al 2008), leading to the identification of four, three and one genetic loci controlling B tolerance, respectively.…”

Ecophysiological Effects of Porsuk River's Water and Boron Mine Wastewater on Cucumis Sativus L. Seeds

“…High concentrations of boron in soils and irrigation water are toxic to plants [20] and restrict agricultural activities in polluted places [21,22]. However, Cucumis sativus (var.…”