Plant factors determining the efficiency of nutrient uptake from soils
Nielsen, N.E.
Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica 29(1): 81-84
1979
DOI: 10.1080/00015127909435213
Accession: 000719022
Under conditions in which the rate determining step of nutrient uptake is located in the root, it was simulated by a transport kinetic model how the efficiency of nutrient uptake by plants from soil depends on the parameters: maximal net influx/cm root (Imax), Km of nutrient uptake, minimum concentration (cmin) of nutrient uptake and root length unit of plant weight (L). The efficiency of nutrient uptake increases as Imax and L increase and as Km and cmin decrease. At P concentrations about 1 .mu.M in the soil solution Imax, Km and cmin are of equal importance for the mean rate of simulated P uptake by plants. The efficiency by which a crop utilizes soil as a source of nutrients can be improved, if genotypes which have a smaller cmin, and/or Km, a higher Imax, and/or a longer root per unit of plant weight during the main growth period can be found.