© 1988 Heron Publishing—Victoria, Canada
Boron fertilization and carbohydrate relations in mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal shortleaf pine
Asmare Atalay (1), H. E. Garrett (2), T. P. Mawhinney (3) and R. J. Mitchell (4)
1. College of Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73069, USA / 2. Department of Forestry, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA / 3. Department of Biochemistry, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA / 4. School of Forestry, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA / Received November 10, 1986
Summary
Eight-week-old shortleaf pine seedlings (Pinus echinata Mill.) with and without ectomycorrhizae formed by Pisolithus tinctorius were treated for two to eight weeks with 25 μg borate ml–1 solution applied either to the soil, or as a foliar spray, or in both ways. Control seedlings were fertilized only with modified
Hoagland’s solution containing 0.03 μg ml–1 borate. Five sugars (pinitol, fructose, glucose, myoinositol and sucrose) were quantitated in both mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal
roots by gas–liquid chromatography.
Fertilization with boron increased the total carbohydrate content of mycorrhizal roots except in seedlings receiving foliar
applications of boron. Foliar + soil fertilization yielded a 24% increase in total carbohydrates in mycorrhizal roots, whereas
foliar fertilization alone decreased the total carbohydrate content. Carbohydrate content of nonmycorrhizal roots was significantly
increased only by soil fertilization with boron. Individual sugars were affected less by boron fertilization in nonmycorrhizal
roots than in ectomycorrhizal roots. However, significant increases in sugars in response to boron fertilization were observed
in both ectomycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal plants.
