The Effect of Nitrogen Application on Boron Toxicity Reduction in Pistachio (Pistacia vera cv. Badami-Zarand Saplings)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• babak motesharezadeh ¹
• somayeh rezaezadeh ¹
• majid fekri ²

¹ University of Tehran

² University Shahid Bahonar

https://doi.org/10.22067/jsw.v30i2.38911

Abstract

Introduction: Boron is one of the seven essential microelements for the natural growth of plants. The toxicity of this element occurs in arid and semi-arid regions, which is because of its high level in soils and the irrigation water of mentioned regions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nitrogen application on boron toxicity tolerance in pistachio, Badami-Zarand variety. The effects of three nitrogen levels (0, 250, and 350 mg/kg of soil) on the reduction of toxicity due to the three levels of boron (0, 15, and 30 mg/kg of soil) were examined in Badami-Zarandi variety of pistachio under greenhouse conditions. After 7 months from sowing the seeds, pistachio seedlings were harvested and desired traits were measured. The results showed that by increasing boron application level, boron concentration in the shoot and root of seedlings increased whereas their dry weight decreased. Using of nitrogen reduced the negative effects of boron on the dry weight and led to increase dry weight and decrease boron concentration in the shoot and root of pistachio, Badami variety. Nitrogen application at the levels of 250 and 350 mg N per kg of soil reduced boron uptake in shoots by reinforcing plant vegetative system and increasing chlorophyll content by 13.5% and 30.2%, respectively and finally led to diluted boron concentration in the plant (dilution effect) and reduced the effects of boron toxicity. Hence, optimized nitrogen application is suggested as one of the management methods in controlling Boron toxicity under these conditions.
Materials and Methods: A factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with four replications was carried out. Soil sampling was done in 0-30 cm depth in a zeekzack way from a pistachio garden that located in mahmoodiye area in Rafsanjan. The soil sample was air-dried and passed through a 2mm sieve. The soil chemical and physical properties were measured. In this study, badami-zarand cultivar seed was used because it is one of the most important pistachio cultivars. The seeds were soaked in water for 24 hours and disinfected by benomyl fungicide. When the seeds germinated, they were planted in the pots containing 4.5 kg soil and without drainage, so nutrients balance was kept during growing period. After 7 months, the seedlings were harvested and B was measured.
Results and Discussion: The results showed that increasing the boron levels from 0 to 30 mg kg-1 led to decrease shoot dry weight from 3.72 to 2.45 gram and root DM from 2.28 to 1.50 gram. Increasing 30 mg kg-1 boron led to 2.8 times increase of shoot boron concentration. The averages of shoot boron concentration in the levels of 15 and 30 mg kg-1 boron were 87.6 and 122 mg kg-1DM, respectively. The boron toxicity level in Badami-Zarand cultivar is 8.9 mg kg-1 DM (Sepaskhahet al, 1994), so these levels were the cause of boron toxicity and boron toxicity symptoms were seen as leaf burn, often at the margins and the tips of older leaves.
The results showed that increasing nitrogen levels led to decrease shoot boron concentration and increase their weight. The results also showed a significant negative correlation between the nitrogen levels and boron uptake. Boron uptake in the shoots of seedlings about 13.5 and 30.2 percent decreased when nitrogen levels increased. Shoot dry weight decreased when boron application increased, but it increased when nitrogen was used (Koohkan and Maftoun, 2009).
Conclusion: The reduction of dry weight and increasing boron concentration occurred when increased boron application. The Maximum of boron uptake was seen by leaves, and boron toxicity symptoms were appeared as leaf burn especially at the tips and margins of older leaves. Since, boron is immobile in pistachio; it is absorbed by mass flow, so the accumulation of boron at older leaves is persuaded. Nitrogen reduced the bad effects of boron on dry weight and the bad effects of increasing boron concentration by the synthesis of chlorophyll, so it was more useful in shoot than root. Boron uptake was also reduced by nitrogen application. This effect of nitrogen is probably concerned to the increase of dry weight more than boron concentration (Dilution effect). On the other hand, nitrogen caused to increase leaf index and increase the number of seedling leaves. The injured leaves due to boron toxicity were restored, because of high leaf chlorophyll. It is suggested that this study will be done under field conditions for fertilizer application recommendations and to be used for creation of tolerant cultivars of pistachio.

Keywords

• Abiotic stress
• Boron Toxicity
• Nitrogen
• Pistachio

20.1001.1.20084757.1395.30.2.15.7

References

1- Blevins D.G., and Lukaszewski K. M. 1998 .Boron in plant structure and function. Annual. Review of plant physiology and plant molecular biology, 49: 481–500.

2- Bouyoucos C. J. 1962. Hydrometer method improved for making particle size analysis of soil. Agron. J. 54: 464-465.

3- Bremner J. M. 1996. Nitrogen-total. P. 1085-1122. In Sparks, D.L. et al., Method of soil analysis. Published by: Soil Science Society of America, Inc. American Society of Agronomy, Inc. Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

4- Brown P. H., Ferguson L., and Picchioni G. 1992. Boron nutrition of pistachio. Department of pomology, University of California., Davis.

5- Fallahi E. 1997. Pre-harvest nitrogen optimization for maximizing yield and post-harvest fruit quality of apple. Acta Horticulturae, 448: 415-419.

6- Emami A. 1996. Plant analysis methods. 982th Journal of Agricultural Extension, learning, Research Organization. Tehran, Iran. (in Persian)

7- Ferguson L. 2003. Pistachio production year book. pp. 62-66. UC, Davis, California, USA.

8- Goldberg S., and Forster H.S. 1991. Boron sorption on calcareous soils and reference calcites, Soil Science, 152(4): 304-310.

9- Goldberg S. 1997. Reactions of boron with soils, Plant Soil, 193: 35-48.

10- Gorsline D.A., and et al. 1968. Holocene sedimentation in tanner basin, California continental borderland, Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. Press.

11- Grieve C.M., and Poss J.A. 2000. Wheat response to interactive effects of boron and salinity. J. Plant Nutr. 23: 1217–1226.

12- Gupta U. C., Macleod J. A., and Sterling J. D. E. 1976. Effect of boron and nitrogen on grain yield and boron and nitrogen concentrations of barley and wheat. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 40 (5): 723-726.

13- Gupta U. C., and Jame Y. W. 1985. Boron toxicity and deficiency: a review. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 65: 381-409.

14- Gupta U. C. 1993. Boron and its role in crop production. CRC, Press. 3-157.

15- Havlin J. L., Tisdale S. L., Nelson W. L., and Beaton J. D. 2008. Soil fertility and fertilizers. 8th Edition.

16- Hosseini-fard S. J., Heidari nejad A., Mohammadi Mohammad abadi A., and Sedaghati N. 2008. The Study of Boron Status in Water, Soil and Pistachio in cultivated areas of Pistachio in Iran. Journal of Research and Construction agriculture and gardening, 81: 9-19. (in Persian with English abstract).

17- Iwai H., Masaoka N., Ishii T., and Satoh S. 2002. A pectin glucuronosyl transferase gene is essential for intercellular attachment in the plant meristem. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99: 16319–16324.

18- Juan J. 2008. Boron in Plants: Deficiency and Toxicity. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, 50 (10): 1247–1255.

19- Keren R., Bingham F.T., and Rhoades J.D. 1985. Plant uptake of boron as affected by boron distribution between liquid and solid phases in soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 49: 297–302.

20- Keren R. 1996. Boron. In D.L. Sparks (ed.) Methods of soil analysis, Part 3. Chemical methods. Soil Science Society of America, Book series No. 5.

21- Kostas B. S., and Dordas C. 2006. Effect of foliar applied boron, manganese and zinc on tan spot in winter durum wheat, Plant Protection, 25(7): 657-663.

22- Koohkan H. 2009. Boron and Nitrogen Interaction in Rice. 2th agricultural science and Food industry Regional Congress. Fasa, Iran. (in Persian)

23- Koohkan H., and Maftoun M. 2009. Effect of Nitrogen Levels on the Decrease Boron Toxicity and Growth and Chemical Composition of Kolza. 10th Soil Science Congress of Iran. Gorgan. (in Persian)

24- Lovatt C.J., and Bates M. 1984. Early effects of exess boron on photosynthesis and growth of Cucurbita pepo. J. Exp. Bot., 35: 297-305.

25- Makino A., and Osmond B. 1991. Effects of Nitrogen nutrition on nitrogen partitioning between chloroplasts and mitochondria in pea and wheat, Plant Physiology, 96: 355-362.

26- Marschner H. 1995. Mineral nutrition of higher plants. Academic Press. London. P. 116-386.

27- Malakooti M. J., and Moteshare zadeh B. 1999. Boron Role on Increase of Quantity and Improvement of Quality Agricultural Products. Agricultural Learning and Research Organization, Iran. (in Persian).

28- Moraghan J. T., and Kenneth G. 1999. Seed-Zinc concentration and the zinc-efficiency trait in Navy Bean. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 63: 918-922.

29- Nable R.O. 1988. Resistance to boron toxicity amongst several barley and wheat Cultivars: A preliminary examination of the resistance mechanism. Plant Soil, 112: 45-52.

30- Nable R.O., Lance R.C., and Cartwright B. 1990. Uptake of boron and silicon by barley genotypes with differing susceptibilities to boron toxicity. Ann. Bot. 66: 83–90.

31- Nable R. O., Banuelos G. S., and Paull J. G. 1997. Boron toxicity. Plant and Soil. 193(1-2), 181-198.

32- O'Neill M.A., Eberhard S., Darvill A.G., and Albersheim P. 2001. Requirement of borate cross-linking of cell wall rhamnogalacturonan II for Arabidopsis growth. Science, 294: 846–849.

33- Panahi B., Esmaeilpoor A., Moazempoor kermani F., and Farivar Mahin H. 2002. Guideline of Pistachio (Planting, Growing, Harvesting). Agricultural Learning and Research Organization, Iran.

34- Parsa A.A., and Wallace A. 1980a. Effect of strength of nutrient solution on the growth and nutrient uptake of pistachio seedlings. J.Plant Nutr. 2: 257-261.

35- Parsa A.A., and Wallace A. 1980b. Differential partitioning of boron and calcium in shoots of seedlings of two pistachio cultivars. J. Plant Nutr. 2: 263-266.

36- Reid R. 2010. Can we really increase yields by making crop plants tolerant to boron toxicity. Plant Science. 178: 9-11.

37- Reisenauer H. M., Walsh L. M., and Hoeft R.G. 1973. Testing soils for sulphur, boron, molybdenum, and chlorine. In Soil Testing and Plant Analysis. Eds. L M Walsh and J D Beaton. Rev. ed, pp 173–200. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

38- Rhoades J. D. 1996. Electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids. P. 417-436. In Sparks, D. L. et al., Method of soil analysis. Published by: Soil Science Society of America, Inc. American Society of Agronomy, Inc. Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

39- Sepaskhah A. R., Maftoun M., and Yasrebi J. 1988. Seedling growth and Chemical composition of three pistachio cultivars as affected by soil applied boron. Journal of Horticultural Science, 63: 743-749.

40- Sepaskhah A. R., Maftoun M., and Yasrebi J. 1994. Seedling growth and chemical composition of two pistachio cultivars as affected by boron and nitrogen application. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 17: 155-171.