Plant nutrition Lecturer : Prof. Wang Linquan Office: 测试楼 321 Tel: 87091533 Mobile: 13186071534

Plant nutritionPlant nutrition

Lecturer : Prof. Wang Linquan

Office: 测试楼 321

Tel: 87091533

Mobile: 13186071534

Acknowledge Acknowledge I expresses thanks to Assoc. Prof. Rob

Reid of Adelaide university of Australia, Dr Jeff Gale, foreign teacher of Northwest A&F University of China, and Prof. Zhang Fusuo, Prof. Li Xiaolin of China Agriculture University, Prof. Liu Yuanyin of Northeast agriculture Unversity and other authors, who provide materials for me, or whose materials, such as photographs and figures etc, I used in the lectures.

IntroductionIntroduction

绪论绪论

What is plant nutrition?What is plant nutrition?

Plant nutrition is the part of plant

physiology that deals with the uptake and

assimilation （同化） of nutrients for the

optimal functioning of the plant.

• The supply and adsorption of chemical compounds needed for growth and metabolism may be defined as nutrition （营养） .

• The chemical compounds or elements required by an organism termed nutrients （养分） .

What is plant nutrition?

Evolution发育、进化

Genotype基因型

physiological characteristics生理特征

Growth

CO2

O2

Photosynthesis光合作用

Water relations

uptake of Nutrients养分吸收

Assimilation of nutrients

养分同化

Main Processes

regulation of growth生长调节

Reproduction繁殖、生殖

H2O

O2

MineralNutrients

What are plant nutrients?

What are fertilizers?

Ancient Practices Up To The Fall Of Rome

• Many of the sound( 合理的 , 有效的 ) agricultural practices of today, including manuring, liming, and crop rotations with legumes were also important in ancient times.

• Organic manures have been used in Chinese agriculture for over 3,000 years. Descriptions of using human and animal wastes, plant ashes and grasses and how these materials benefited crop production and improved soil fertility were recorded in our country over 2,000 years ago.

• These same early Greek writers recognized the value of green manure crops, particularly legumes. Many of these ancients rated lupine( 羽扇豆 ) as the best general-purpose green-manure crop because it grew well under a wide range of soil conditions, furnished 供给 food for man and beast, was easy to seed and quick to grow.

Ancient Practices Up To The Fall Of Rome

After The Fall Of Rome To The Middle Ages

• Following the decline of Rome, Western Europe entered into the six centuries of the "Dark Ages" when there was little interest in the sciences and scholarship.

• Much of the Greek knowledge was preserved through the collection and translation of manuscripts from Islamic civilization.

The Middle Ages: 12th to 16th Centuries

• Soil fertility and soil amendment practices remained much the same as in the days of the Greeks and Romans, relying principally upon animal manures; composts; sewage and other waste products; seas and, seaweed( 海藻 ) and fish in coastal areas; bones; and liming materials, usually marl( 泥灰 ).

What are plant nutrients?What are plant nutrients?

• Greek guy from a long time past decides four elements are important

• ARISTOTLE (4'th century) had claimed that all matter was composed of the 4 basic elements: earth, air, fire and water.

• He considered the roots of plants to be the "mouths" of the plant which absorbed the plant's food from (already made) soil.

• 中国古代人认为植物养分就是地气、地脉：

• 所有之田，岁岁种之，土敞气衰，生物不遂；为农者必储朽以粪粪之，则收获不减，地力长新。——地力长新


Chemical Discoveries In The 17th And 18th Centuries

• Gold, silver, copper, tin, iron, lead etc. were known at the time of the Greek and Roman civilizations.

• Ammonium sulfate was discovered in the 1600s.• Potassium nitrate or saltpeter( 硝石 ) was known but

not its composition, and phosphorus was identified in 1669.

• Nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, manganese and molybdenum were all discovered between the early 1770s and 1782. Sulfur was classified as an element in 1777.

• Ammonia was made for the first time in 1774

• Urea was identified in 1773 and in 1775 the presence of large amounts of calcium

• Phosphate in bones was confirmed.

Chemical Discoveries In The 17th And 18th Centuries

A FlemishA Flemish （（佛兰德人）佛兰德人） chemist—J B van chemist—J B van Helmont (early 17th century) noted that the Helmont (early 17th century) noted that the bulk of the plant came from waterbulk of the plant came from water

Added 5 lb of willow cuttingsAdded 5 lb of willow cuttings （（柳树枝条）柳树枝条） to to 200 lb of dried soil200 lb of dried soil

Covered soil pot but allowed water to enterCovered soil pot but allowed water to enter After five years, he harvested willow cuttings After five years, he harvested willow cuttings

and soiland soil

Early Understandings Of Plant Growth

Table1 : Van Helmont's willow tree experiment (1648)

1. Weight of dry soil 200 lb (91kg)

2. Initial weight of the tree.(fresh weight)

5 lb (2.3kg)

3. Final weight of the tree.(fresh weight)

169 lb (76.8kg)

4. Weight gain of the tree.(fresh weight)

164 lb (74.5kg)

5. Weight gain of the tree (dry weight)

16 lb (7.45kg)

6. Weight loss of the soil (dry weight)

2 oz (57g)

7. Percent loss from soil (dry weight)

0.06%

• After 5years growth:• Willow cuttings weighed 169 lb.• Dried soil weighed 199 lb. 14 oz.• Only 2 oz of soil was lost• Suggested all the remaining weight came

from water. The water was in some way transmuted into plant tissue.

• What was wrong with him?

What are plant nutrients?What are plant nutrients?Early Understandings Of Plant Growth

1648 77kg

1643 2.3 kg

Van Helmont’s willow tree experiment

• What is particularly important about this study is that it represented the first documented attempt to evaluate plant nutrition by experimental means rather than by accepted dogma （教义、教条） .

• The directness, simplicity and taking of quantitative measurements in his experiment played an important role in developing the experimental approach of the future.


• The concept was altered by John Woodward an English researcher, who found muddy water to produce more plant growth than rain water or river water.


TREATMENTS GROWTH OF PLANT IN 3 WEEKS

1. rain water 62% increase

2. river water 92% increase

3. drain water 126% increase

4. soil + drain water 309% increase

Table 2: Woodward‘s spearmint （绿薄荷） experiment (1699)

Rain water

Soil water

• The investigations of John Woodward (1665-1728) in England revealed that most of the water taken up by a plant was transpired and that the plant grew in proportion to the amount of "matter" present in the water. Leading to the conclusion that the fine earth was the “principle” of growth.


• Ｖ on Sachs – invented solution culture - no soil culture

• The use of soilless mixes and increased research in nutrient cultures and hydroponics( 水培法） as well as advances in plant tissue analysis have led to a broader understanding of plant nutrition.


Hydroponics A technique of growing plants without soil, in water or sometimes an inert medium (e.g., sand) containing dissolved nutrients.

• Plant tissue analysis• Burned plants and collected the ash• Analyzed the ash and added the

individual ash components to hydroponics system to determine what are importance

W. John Woodward (English) - identified W. John Woodward (English) - identified that in sand culture, distilled water(that in sand culture, distilled water( 蒸馏蒸馏水）水） is not sufficient to keep plant alive. is not sufficient to keep plant alive.


De Saussure (swiss) - De Saussure (swiss) - not all minerals absorbed not all minerals absorbed by plants equally, some are more important.by plants equally, some are more important.

• He demonstrated that hydrogen and oxygen from water and carbon dioxide from the air contributed to the dry matter content of plants and that these sources were more important than humus.

• He recognized that salts present in plants were subject to selective absorption and some plants absorbed salts that were of no benefit to them or were actually harmful.


• Sir Humphrey Davy, who discovered the elements potassium, sodium, calcium, chlorine and boron in rapid succession between 1807 and 1810, published in 1813 a series of lectures in a book entitled Elements of Agricultural Chemistry.

• It became a standard text for 50 years and it coordinated and summarized a considerable body of knowledge on growth and nourishment of plants.

• He believed that most of the carbon in plants was taken up by the roots and even recommended fertilization with oil as a carbon source.


• Yet the scientific community still clung to （坚持，墨守） the humus theory, basically Aristotle's idea that the soil provided the organic matter necessary for plant growth.

• Von Thaer （ German,1752-1828 ） thought that the principle was humus （ organic fluids ） taken in by the plant from soil, because the fertility soil has higher humus content.


• Liebig, the famous German chemist - states that soil contribute inorganic soluble minerals, not “organic fluids’

• In 1840, Liebig, published a book entitled "ORGANIC CHEMISTRY IN ITS APPLICATION TO AGRICULTURE AND PHYSIOLOGY". His fierce criticism of the humus theory finally put it to rest.

• Developed the “Mineral Theory of Fertilizers（肥料）”


养分归还学说：植物以不同方式从土壤中吸收矿质养分，使土壤养分逐渐减少，连续种植会使土壤贫瘠，为了保持土壤肥力，就必须把植物带走的矿质养分和氮素以施肥的方式归还给土壤。

He wrote: “It must be borne in mind that as a principle of arable farming, what is taken from the soil must be return to it in full measures.


The Law of the Minimum作物产量受土壤中相

对含量最少的养分所控制，作物产量的高低则随最小养分补充量的多少而变化—最小养分律

The Law of the Minimum states that a crop’s yield is restricted by the lack of a single element, even though there may be sufficient quantities of all other essential elements.

• Liebig strongly believed that soil fertility could be maintained by the addition of mineral elements present in plant ashes and that nitrogenous manures were unnecessary because of the ammonia occurring in the atmosphere and supplied in rainfall.

• Benefits of manure were attributed to the release of ammonia to the air in contact with plants.


• Although Von Liebig showed that treatment of bones with a strong acid, such as sulfuric acid, would increase the availability of phosphorus, he developed a fertilizer in which the phosphate and potash salts were fused with lime and as a result it was a failure.


• Several famous French chemists conducted quantitative experiments and demonstrations to determine the benefits of chemical fertilization.

• Lavoisier began his studies in 1778 and found large yield increases on unproductive soils in his area of France.

• Boussingault established a farm at Alsace and from 1834 to 1871 conducted quantitative field plot experiments with manures, fertilizers and other materials. His inputs and the harvested crops were weighed and analyzed.– Indicates soils need nutrient replenishment( 补偿） – Considered the initiator （创始人） of Agricultural Science

Early Field Experiments With Chemical Fertilizers

• Lawes and Gilbert at England’s Rothamsted Experiment Station founded in 1843

• (a ) crops require both phosphorus and potassium and the amount of these elements in plant ash is not a measure of plant requirements,

• (b) non-legume crops require a supply of nitrogen and the amount of ammonia provided by the atmosphere is insufficient for crop needs

• (c) soil fertility could be maintained for many years by using chemical fertilizers

• (d) the beneficial effect of fallowing is the increase in• availability of soil nitrogen.


Early Field Experiments With Chemical Fertilizers

Why is Plant Nutrition Important?

3 main reasons

1. To maximise productivity

2. To improve quality

3. To improve human nutrition

Methods for the increase in agricultural production

1. New, high yielding varieties

2. Improved farming methods (include irrigation)

3. The use of pesticides, Insecticides, Herbicides

• Pesticides – chemical compounds used to kill unwanted pests (plants, animals, or insects)

• Insecticides – kills insects

• Herbicides – kills weeds

4. The application of fertilizer

Why is Plant Nutrition Important?

Good plant nutrition must be a balance of yield, quality and nutritional value

1. Maximising Productivity

• Genetic make-up of plant

• Water

• Nutrient deficiency

• Nutrient toxicity

• Insufficient light

What limits plant productivity?

The major factors that control crop quality are genetically controlled, but environmental and nutritional factors do have some influence.

Limitations to productivity – genetic makeup

reality Farmer’s impression

Productivity

- Harvest index = harvested product

total biomass

- Yield per hectare

e.g. protein, nutrient, colour

Breeding to improve the harvest index of wheat

harvest index

• original domesticated wheat 20%

• modern wheat 50 - 55%

• physiological limit ? 60%

Introduction ofdwarf varieties+ agronomicimprovements

Dwarfing – ‘what was lost in the straw was gained in the grain’

表 5 良种和地方种小麦对养分吸收的差异Table5 The difference of nutrients uptake by the modern

cultivars and original domesticated wheat cultivars

国家品种单产

（吨 / 公顷）

养分吸收量（公斤 / 公顷）

单位产量养分吸收量（千克 /100 千克）

N P2O5 K2O N P2O5 K2O

德国

地方种 2.8 84 36 73 3.0 1.29 2.67

良种 6.0 165 73 155 2.75 1.20 2.58

印度

地方种 2.2 59 29 67 2.68 1.32 3.01

良种 6.0 168 75 175 2.80 1.25 2.92

Cultivar

0 50 100 150 200

Root length (mm/plant)

Genotypic variation inboron efficiency in 65

cultivars of Brassica napus

applied B = 0.1 µM

Stangoulis et al. 2000

Genotypic differences in nutrient uptake

Wheat yield per hectare in key producing countries (average 1994-1996)

Country Yield (ton/ha)U.K. 7.7

France 6.8

Egypt 5.4

Mexico 4.1

China 3.6

Poland 3.4

Ukraine 2.7

India 2.5

U.S. 2.5

Canada 2.3

Argentina 2.1

Pakistan 2

Australia 1.6

Russia 1.4

Kazakstan 0.6

? bad farmers

? better farmers

? best farmers

soil nutrient status

high

very low

Major nutrient deficienciesN, P, S, Zn, Cu, Mn, Mo

Environmental limitations to yield - nutrients

中国古代粮食产量与肥料之关系The relationship of yields and fertilizers of ancient China

（奚振邦， 1998 ）

肥源(fertilizers)

时代产量（公斤 / 公顷）

灰肥 (ash) 古代 375

灰肥 + 粪肥(ash and dung)

古代 <750

灰肥 + 粪肥 + 绿肥(ash and dung and green manure)

古代、近代 <3000

灰肥 + 粪肥 + 绿肥 + 化肥(ash and dung and green manure and

mineral fertilizers)

近代 >3000

我国化肥、谷物产量与人均粮食量The relationship of mineral fertilizers , grain yield and food

consume per capita 年份人口

（万）粮食产量（万

吨）化肥用量（万

吨）人均粮食量

（ kg)

1949 54167 11320 / 209

1952 57482 16390 7.8 288

1957 64653 19505 37.3 306

1963 72538 19455 194.2 272

1973 91970 28450 536.9 309

1980 98255 32052 1269.4 327

1985 104689 37898 1322.2 365

肥料

施用

量( 万

吨）

1975年以来我国肥料施用量与粮食总产量的变化

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

1975 1978 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 200015000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

50000

55000

60000

65000

70000

75000

化肥用量粮食总产粮食单产

粮食

总产

（万

吨）

、单

产（

kg/1

0hm

2 ）

张富锁资料

表 -4 我国氮、磷、钾化肥的增产效果The effects of N, P and K fertilizers of China （ 1981-1983 ）

（林葆， 1998 ）

作物增产量 Yield increase

（ kg/kg 养分）N P2O5 K2O

水稻 rice 9.1 4.7 4.6-6.6

小麦 wheat 10.0 8.1 2.1

玉米 maize 13.4 9.1 1.6

棉花（籽棉） cotton 3.6 2.0 2.9

油菜籽 seed rape 4.0 6.3 0.6

马铃薯 potato 58.1 33.2 10.3

Deformed fruit caused by Boron deficiency

normaldeficient

2. Improving quality of produce through plant nutrition

Bitter Pit, Granny Smith

Bitter Pit caused by Ca deficiency

Low Boron reduces quality of potatoes

Improving quality – increasing protein content of cereals through high N

low moderate excess

Grain yield

Protein

yield

Protein %

Grain Yieldor

Grain Protein Yieldor

Grain Protein %

Availability of nitrogen

Yield

% protein

Nitrogen applied

Low proteinlow yield

Excess Nhigh yieldhigh protein

Max yield

10.5 - 11%protein

Wheat quality

NPK

Citrus Quality

Low P• mis-shapen fruit• coarse rind• open centres• low juice (acid)

Low N• thin skin (desirable)• low yield

High N• thick skin• less juice (acid)

3. Improving Human Nutrition

Low nutrient concentrations in food can causesevere deficiencies in humans and farm animals.

Main micronutrient deficiencies worldwide

• Iron

• Zinc

• Iodine - not essential for plants

• Selenium - not essential for plants

• Vitamin A - not essential for plants

Global prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia( 贫血 )

0

10

20

30

40

50%

an

aem

ic

1980 1990

Year

– impairs learning and growth

– diminishes ability to fight infections

– maternal & foetal illness or death

Fe deficiency

Macronutrients can also be deficient in foods

Malformation 畸形 in children due to insufficent Calcium in diets.

Grains – low in Ca

Vegetables – high in Ca

History of chemical fertilizersHistory of chemical fertilizers

The world’s first commercial

nitrogenfertilizer was

sodium nitrate mined from natural

deposits in Chile.

Ammonium sulfate was the next commercial

source of fertilizer nitrogen.The initial product in England

in 1815.It was overtaken by ammonium nitrate.

Commercial method of synthesizing

urea through the reaction of ammonia and carbon dioxide

was first introduced in Germany in 1920.


In 1842, Lawes of Rothamsted fame was granted a patent for the

production of superphosphate and he began manufacturing and

selling this fertilizer the same year.Triple (concentrated)

superphosphate was initially produced in Germany in 1872.

Ammonium phosphates,were first produced commercially

in the U.S. in 1916.


The potassium fertilizer industry originated in

Western Europe with the world’s first potashfactory being installed in Germany in 1857.

1979 was the first time that production

of small amounts of potassium fertilizer was recorded in China.

Production continued at modest levels through the 1980s

with a significant increase in capacity planned for 1997 or 1998.


The impetus 推进 for production of granular( 颗粒 ), homogeneous NPK fertilizers

in the U.S.occurred in 1953

with the introduction of the Tennessee Valley

Authority’s (TVA)continuous

ammoniator-granulator.


In 1947, there were only four bulk blendingoperations in the

U.S., all located in Illinois. By 1967, 35 percent of all fertilizers

consumed in the U.S. were in the form of bulk

blends. This proportion increased to 40 percent in 1976

and since 1979 it has remainedat about 52 percent of the total fertilizer

marketed nationally.


液体肥料 liquid mixed fertilizer or fluids

After a modest beginning in California between 1923 and 1928, the U.S. liquid mixedfertilizer sector grew slowly until the decade of the 1950s when it expanded rapidly inthe Midwest and Pacific Northwest.


Why study it?

1. Plant nutrition provides interesting and challenging problems for scientists.

2. Even more intense knowledge of plant nutrition will be necessary to feed the world’s growing populations.

3. We have many ecological problems associated with current fertilizer usage.

What will we learn in the What will we learn in the lesson?lesson?

• Principles of plant nutrition---What are the essential nutrients of plants; How roots explore the soil to find nutrients; The mechanisms used by plant roots to absorb essential nutrients; nutrients assimilation and functions in plant

• foliar fertilization etc

What will we learn in the lesson?What will we learn in the lesson?

• Nutrients availability of soil----How soil structure and soil chemistry affect nutrient availability; How plants change the conditions in the soil surrounding the root – the RHIZOSPHERE, and how this affects availability of nutrients etc

What will we learn in the lesson?What will we learn in the lesson?

• Fertilizers ----the concept of fertilizers; the characteristics and properties of common fertilizers; transformation of fertilizers in the soil; organic fertilizers and composting

• fertilizer efficient use etc

• Fertilization and environmental

Text book and referencesText book and references

• K Mengel & E. A. kirkby, Principles of plant nutrition, 5th edition, Kluwer Academic publishers, Dordrecht/BostonLondon, 2001

• M. J. Singer & Donald N Munns, Soils-an introduction, 2th edition, Prentice hall, Upper Saddler River NJ, 1996

Text book and referencesText book and references

　 1 « 植物营养原理 » 史瑞和蔼等江苏科技出版社 1989 2 « 植物营养原理 » 何念祖孟赐福编上海科技出版社

1987 3 « 植物营养原理 » ４版， K.Mengel和 A.Kirkby

编张宜春等译农业出版社 19871982 4 « 高等植物的矿质营养 » H.Marschner 著曹一平

陆景陵等译北京农业大学出版社 1991 5 《 Principles of plant nutrition》 4th edition 1987, k. Mengel and E.A.Kirkby

6. 北京农业大学主编，农业化学（总论），第二版，北京，中国农业出版社．１９８７

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Plant nutrition Lecturer : Prof. Wang Linquan Office: 测试楼 321 Tel: 87091533 Mobile: 13186071534