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Physiological Changes in and Ozone Susceptibility of the Tomato Plant After Short Periods of Inadequate Oxygen Diffusion to the Roots¹

ABSTRACT

The degree to which tomato leaves were altered following short periods of reduced oxygen in the root zone was studied in relation to the following factors: apparent rate of photosynthesis, susceptibility to ozone, and carbohydrate concentration.

Reduced rates of soil oxygen diffusion for 8 hours brought about a 50% decerase in CO₂ fixation by plants, while shorter periods (3 hours) had only a slight effect on apparent photosynthesis. However, the short period of anaerobic treatment over the soil surface, followed by normal soil aeration for 24 hours, reduced the susceptibility of the plant to ozone damage by as much as 50%. Carbohydrate analysis of leaf tissue for similarly treated plants showed a 50% reduction in sucrose and 33% reduction in starch. It is hypothesized that the anaerobic pretreatment brought about a change in the root membrane permeability or a shift in metabolism that promoted excretion of certain carbohydrates from the roots which in turn changed the concentration of carbohydrates in the leaves.

¹ Paper No. 1511, Univ. of California Citrus Research Center and Agr. Exp. Sta., Riverside. Presented before Joint Meeting of Div. I and VI, Soil Science Society of America, Ithaca, NY., August 23, 1962. Supported in part by NSF Grant No. GB-84 and in part by a research grant (AD-40) from the U. S. Public Health Service.

² Associate Soil Physicist, Dept. of Soils and Plant Nutrition; Associate Horticulturist, Dept. of Horticultural Science; Research Plant Physiologist, Agricultural Air Research; and Laboratory Technician II, Air Pollution Research, respectively.

Received for publication July 1, 1963. Accepted for publication February 5, 1964.