Root and rhizosphere responses of iron‐efficient or ‐inefficient apple genotypes to solution pH

Abstract

Solution culture with four pH levels was employed in this experiment to evaluate root and rhizosphere responses of Malus xiaojinensis [iron (Fe)‐efficient species] and M. baccata (Fe‐inefficient species) in order to pursue some of their physiological mechanism for Fe absorption. The results showed that M. xiaojinensis had a higher fresh weight per seedling than M. baccata at any of the solution pH levels tested and the differences were significant between the two species with increasing of the solution pH levels, particularly at the pH of 7.4 or 8.4. The reducing abilities of root exudates for the two species under test were decreased with increasing of the solution pH from 5.4 to 8.4, in which the reducing abilities for M. xiaojinensis were always more than two times higher than those for M baccata. The significant decrease of the reducing ability was found only at pH of 8.4 for M. xiaojinensis or at both 7.4 and 8.4 for M. baccata, respectively. Malus xiaojinensis had significantly higher respiration rates than M. baccata at the higher solution pH levels. Both rhizosphere pH and rhizosphere redox potential were influenced by the solution pH levels remarkably in distances of 0–4 mm to root surface or in distances of 5–10 mm along the root from the root tip, respectively. Genotypic differences in these two parameters were clearly showed at the solution pH of 7.4, in which rhizosphere pH of M xiaojinensis was clearly lower than that of M. baccata, while the rhizosphere redox potential of the former was much higher than that of the latter.