Project Details
Projekt
Senescence and nitrogen remobilization at plant level as affected by carbon and nitrogen source variation
Applicant
Professor Dr. Andreas Fangmeier
Subject Area
Plant Cultivation, Plant Nutrition, Agricultural Technology
Term
from 2009 to 2018
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 46691270
Reduced nitrogen supply and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations both reduce the amount of nitrogen available for grain/seed filling from pools in vegetative tissues. However, green leaves with lower N content due to CO2 enrichment are physiologically fully functional in terms of carbon gain since their reduced N content represents a physiological adaptation and optimization of N allocation within the photosynthetic apparatus to increased C supply. The working hypotheses of this project are that modified lines of crops with improved N remobilization during leaf senescence will show improved nitrogen use efficiency and nitrogen harvest index, but will not overcome the imbalance between C and N acquisition caused by elevated CO2. Based on prior observations with oilseed rape, CO2 enrichment is also expected to potentially initiate vegetative growth when plants are already in the generative stage. In order to test these hypotheses, growth experiments will be performed with oilseed rape and barley under varying N and CO2 supply. N and C acquisition, remobilization and redistribution during the entire life cycle will be assessed involving 15N as tracer. Experiments will involve modified lines and wild types of recent cultivars, but also old cultivars differing in grain/seed nitrogen content und nitrogen harvest index.Keywords: senescence, nitrogen remobilization, nitrogen use efficiency, nitrogen harvest index, genotypes, atmospheric carbon dioxide enrichment.
DFG Programme
Research Units
