The Absorption and Distribution of Strontium in Plants

• Published in: Journal of experimental botany 1958-06, Vol.9 (2), p.262-276
• Main Authors: RUSSELL, R. SCOTT, SQUIRE, HELEN M.
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; jpn
• ISSN: 0022-0957; 1460-2431
• DOI: 10.1093/jxb/9.2.262

The absorption and distribution of strontium in barley plants has been studied, in water culture, both in the presence and absence of calcium. Tracer methods have been employed. When no other bivalent ions were present in the external solution the absorption of strontium was proportional to the concentration over a wide concentration range (10−6 to 10−1 m.equiv./l.). In the presence of calcium, however, absorption was reduced and appeared to be dependent on the total concentration of calcium plus strontium rather than on that of 8trontlum alone. The translocation of stron tium from the root to the shoot increased as the external concentration of both ions was raised. In plants of low initial calcium status the rate of translocation of strontium was markedly reduced, apparently because of its retention at or near the root surface. Autoradiographs of plants treated with labelled strontium for 24 hours at different stages of growth and grown subsequently for varying periods of time in unlabelled nutrient solutions showed that very little redistribution of strontium occurred within the plant. Leaves which developed after treatment in the labelled solutions contained little or no strontium even when the concentration in the older leaves was very high. Strontium was initially retained in the nodes of the stems, but the greatest accumulation was later found to be in the leaves which had been growing most actively at the time of absorption.