Abstract
Iron (Fe) deficiency is a nutritional disorder in plants. Poncirus trifoliata is susceptible to Fe deficiency, but symptoms of Fe deficiency are rare in Ceratonia siliqua, a slow-growing species. Specimens of the two species were grown in nutrient solutions containing three Fe concentrations: without Fe (0 µM), 1 µM Fe, and either 10 µM Fe (for Ceratonia) or 40 µM Fe (for P. trifoliata). Growth, the degree of chlorosis, the plant mineral composition, and the activity of the root ferric chelate-reductase (FCR) were assessed. Ceratonia plants exposed to 1 µM Fe were efficient at using Fe in the synthesis of chlorophyll. The activity of FCR was enhanced in the total absence of Fe. In Poncirus a low activity of the FCR was observed in plants with no Fe. The balance between micronutrients in the Ceratonia roots was not affected with 1 µM Fe compared with the higher Fe concentration treatments.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Pedro José Correia
Pedro José Correia and Maribela Pestana developed the ideas and designed experiments. Pedro José Correia wrote the manuscript; Florinda Gama and Teresa Saavedra gave technical support, collected, and analyzed data together with Pedro José Correia and Maribela Pestana. Amarilis de Varennes performed mineral analysis and gave conceptual advice. All authors contributed to improving paper and approved the final manuscript.