Abstract
Boron (B) is an essential micronutrient in crop growth but its sufficiency range is narrow. Boron toxicity is a widespread problem in arid and semi-arid areas with cold weather. We investigated the effect of soil temperature (5, 10 and 15°C) on development of symptoms of B toxicity, plant growth and plant development, and on content and concentration of B in tissue of seedlings of four barley lines grown in soil with high level of available B (12 mg kg−1). Visual symptoms of toxicity were first observed in the high B soil concentration treatment at 5 °C at 12 days after emergence. Concentration of B in tissue decreased with increasing soil-temperatures. There was no effect of soil temperature on B content or B concentration in plant tissue at the final sample (17 days after emergence). High soil B reduced seedling and leaf emergence rates, although the final seedling emergence and number of leaves were unaffected. Barley lines differed in concentration of B in tissues and visual toxicity symptom development. Adaptation to high B was either through maintaining low tissue B concentration or through tolerance to high tissue B concentration. While the investigated range of temperature does influence B toxicity in barley seedlings, it remains to be determined whether it affects crop yield.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bingham F R 1982 Boron In Methods of Soil Analysis, Part 2. Chemical and Microbiological Properties. Ed. A LPage, pp 431–447. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, USA.
Bingham F T, Page A L, Coleman N T and Flach K 1971 Boron adsorption characteristics of selected amorphous soils from Mexico and Hawaii. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 35, 546–550.
Cartwright B, Zarcinas B A and Mayfield A H 1984 Toxic concentrations of boron in red brown earths at Gladstone, South Australia. Aust. J. Soil. Res. 22, 321–332.
Cartwright B, Zarcinas B A and Spouncer L R 1986 Boron toxicity in South Australian barley crops. Aust. J. Agric. Res. 37, 351–359.
Fleming G A 1980 Essential Micronutrients. I: Boron and Molybdenum. In Applied Soil Trace Elements. Ed. B EDavies. pp 155–197. John Wiley and Sons, New York, USA.
Goldberg S, Forster H S and Heick E L 1993 Temperature effects on boron adsorption by reference minerals and soils. Soil Sci. 156, 316–321.
Gupta U C 1979 Boron nutrition in crops. Adv. Agron. 31, 273–307.
Keren R and Bingham F T 1985 Boron in water, soils and plants. Adv. Soil Sci. 1, 229–276.
Nable R O, Lance C M R and Cartwright B 1990 Uptake of boron and silicon by barley genotypes with differing susceptibilities to boron toxicity. Ann. Bot. 66, 83–90.
Paull J G, Cartwright B and Rathjen A J 1988 Response of wheat and barley genotypes to toxic concentration of soil boron. Euphytica 39, 137–144.
Paull J G, Nable R O and Rathjen A J 1993 Physiological and genetic control of the tolerance of wheat to high concentrations of boron and implications for plant breeding. Plant and Soil 146, 251–260.
Peacock J M, Miller W B, Matsuda K and Robinson D L 1990 Role of heat girdling in early seedling death of sorghum. Crop Sci. 30, 138–143.
Sillanpaa M 1982 Micronutrients and the Nutrient Status of Soils: A Global Study. FAO, Rome, Italy.
Singh M 1971 Equilibrium adsorption of boron in soils and clays. Geoderma 5, 209–217.
Yau S K, Hamblin J and Ryan J 1994 Phenotypic variation in boron toxicity tolerance in barley, durum and bread wheat. Rachis 13 (In press).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mahalakshmi, V., Yau, S.K., Ryan, J. et al. Boron toxicity in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) seedlings in relation to soil temperature. Plant Soil 177, 151–156 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00010121
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00010121