Phosphorus acquisition characteristics of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.

) and white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) under P deficient conditions

X. Wang, C. Tang, C. N. Guppy and P. W. G. Sale From the issue entitled "RHIZOSPHERE 2 International Conference - Montpellier 2007"

Abstract
A rhizobox experiment was conducted to examine the P acquisition characteristics of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) under P-deficient conditions. We aimed to identify whether cotton is physiologically efficient at acquiring P through release of protons, phosphatases or carboxylates. Plants were pregrown in the upper compartment of rhizoboxes filled with a sand and soil mixture to create a dense root mat against a 53 m polyester mesh. For each species, two P treatments (0 and 20 mg P kg1) were applied to the upper compartment in order to create P-deficient and Psufficient plants. At harvest, the upper compartment with intact plants was used for collection of root exudates while the lower soil compartment was sliced into thin layers (1 mm) parallel to the rhizoplane. Noticeable carboxylates release was only detected for white lupin. All Pdeficient plants showed a capacity to acidify their rhizosphere soil to a distance of 3 mm. The activity of acid phosphatase was significantly enhanced in the soil-root interfaces of P-stressed cotton and wheat. Under P-deficient conditions, the P depletion zone of cotton from the lower soil compartment was narrowest (<2 mm) among the species. Phosphorus fractionation of the rhizosphere soil showed that P utilized by cotton mainly come from NaHCO3Pi and NaOH Po pools while wheat and white lupin markedly depleted NaHCO3Pi and HClP pools, and the depletion zone extended to 3 mm. Wheat also depleted NaOHPo to a significant level irrespective of P supply. The study suggests that acquisition of soil P is enhanced through P mobilization by root exudates for white lupin, and possibly proton release and extensive roots for wheat under P deficiency. In contrast, the P acquisition of cotton was associated with increased activity of phosphatases in rhizosphere soil.

Keywords Phosphatase - Phosphorus fractionation - Rhizosphere - Root exudates Species variation

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