Boron deficiency causes a drastic decrease in nitrate content and nitrate reductase activity, and increases the content of carbohydrates in leaves from tobacco plants

Abstract

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants were used to study connections between deficiency in boron and nitrate reduction. Boron deficiency caused a substantial decrease in shoot and, particularly, root weights that resulted in a notably high shoot/root ratio in comparison to boron-sufficient plants. One of the most important effects caused by boron deficiency was the strong decrease in leaf nitrate content. Leaf contents of magnesium, calcium and, especially, potassium also declined under this deficiency, but nitrate content decreased in a higher proportion than these cations. Nitrate reductase (EC 1.6.6.1) activity of boron-deficient plants declined from the beginning of the light period; this decline did not occur in boron-sufficient plants. This fact could be attributed to the faster decrease in transcript levels of Nia, the nitrate reductase structural gene, during the light period in boron-deficient plants. Leaf protein content of boron-deficient plants also declined in the course of light periods. Boron deficiency caused an appreciable accumulation of hexoses and sucrose in leaves. This build-up of soluble sugars might correct the osmotic imbalance elicited by the low content of nitrate and cations in plants subjected to boron deficiency. Boron-deficient plants had much higher starch contents than boron-sufficient ones, and there was an inverse relationship between the contents of nitrate and starch in leaves.