Abstract
Key message
Using 44Ca as a stable isotope tracer, calcium transport to aboveground portions of apple trees was associated with transpiration rates, but overall calcium uptake was not.
Calcium is a critical plant nutrient with important roles in quality, storability of fruit, and resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Calcium is largely immobile in the plant, increasing the risk of localized calcium deficiencies. It can be difficult to quantify how changes in transpiration affect calcium uptake and allocation to aboveground organs. Here, the effect of an exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) application on calcium uptake by roots and allocation to leaves of Malus domestica Borkh. cv. Honeycrisp was measured by isotopically labeling the potting media with 44Ca and measuring tracer movement after 30 days. Gravimetric water use and leaf level transpiration were lower in trees that were treated with ABA. ABA application reduced water use by more than 40% immediately after treatment and its effect was sustained. Uptake of 44Ca into the plant was not significantly different between ABA-treated trees and untreated trees, but calcium allocation between roots and shoots was affected. The amount of 44Ca tracer in shoots after 30 days was lower in ABA-treated trees compared to the untreated control and corresponded to a greater proportion of 44Ca in the roots, suggesting that calcium allocation to aboveground parts is dependent on transpiration but calcium uptake by the roots is not.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Augusto L, Zeller B, Midwood AJ, Swanston C, Dambrine E, Schneider A, Bosc A (2011) Two-year dynamics of foliage labelling in 8-year-old Pinus pinaster trees with (15)N, (26)Mg and (42)Ca-simulation of Ca transport in xylem using an upscaling approach. Ann For Sci 68(1):169–178
Bangerth F (1973) Investigations upon Ca-related physiological disorders. Phytopathology 77:20–37
Bangerth F (1979) Calcium-related physiological disorders of plants. Annu Rev Phytopathol 17:97–122
Barber SA (1995) Soil nutrient bioavailability: a mechanistic approach. (2 ed.) (pp. 268–272). Wiley New York
Batistič O, Kudla J (2012) Analysis of calcium signaling pathways in plants. Biochem Biophys Acta 1820(8):1283–1293
Biddulph O, Biddulph S, Cory R, Koontz H (1958) Circulation patterns for phosphorus, sulfur and calcium in the bean plant. Plant Physiol 33(4):293
Centritto M, Loreto F, Massacci A, Pietrini F, Villani MC, Zacchini M (2000) Improved growth and water use efficiency of cherry saplings under reduced light intensity. Ecol Res 15(4):385–392
Chiu TF, Bould C (1976) Effects of shortage of calcium and other cations on 45Ca mobility, growth and nutritional disorders of tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum). J Sci Food Agric 27(10):969–977
Clark CJ, Smith GS, Walker GD (1987) The form, distribution and seasonal accumulation of calcium in kiwifruit leaves. New Phytol 105(3):477–486
Dayod M, Tyerman SD, Leigh RA, Gilliham M (2010) Calcium storage in plants and the implications for calcium biofortification. Protoplasma 247(3–4):215–231
de Freitas ST, Jiang CZ, Mitcham EJ (2012) Mechanisms involved in calcium deficiency development in tomato fruit in response to gibberellins. J Plant Growth Regul 31(2):221
de Freitas ST, McElrone AJ, Shackel KA, Mitcham EJ (2014) Calcium partitioning and allocation and blossom-end rot development in tomato plants in response to whole-plant and fruit-specific abscisic acid treatments. J Exp Bot 65(1):235–247
Epstein E (1973) Flow in the phloem and the immobility of calcium and boron: a new hypothesis in support of an old one. Experientia 29:133
Falchi R, D’Agostin E, Mattiello A, Coronica L, Spinelli F, Costa G, Vizzotto G (2017) ABA regulation of calcium-related genes and bitter pit in apple. Postharvest Biol Technol 132:1–6
Fantle MS, Tipper ET (2014) Calcium isotopes in the global biogeochemical Ca cycle: implications for development of a Ca isotope proxy. Earth Sci Rev 129(0):148–177
Ferguson IB, Watkins CB (1989) Bitter pit in apple fruit. Hortic Rev 11:289–355
Gilliham M, Dayod M, Hocking BJ, Xu B, Conn SJ, Kaiser BN, Tyerman SD (2011) Calcium delivery and storage in plant leaves: exploring the link with water flow. J Exp Bot 62(7):2233–2250
Hanger BC (1979) The movement of calcium in plants. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 10:(1–2)
Hocking B, Tyerman SD, Burton RA, Gilliham M (2016) Fruit calcium: transport and physiology. Front Plant Sci 7:569
Hoefs J (2009) Stable isotope geochemistry, 6th edn. Springer, Berlin
Jonard M, André F, Dambrine E, Ponette Q, Ulrich E (2009) Temporal trends in the foliar nutritional status of the French, Walloon and Luxembourg broad-leaved plots of forest monitoring. Ann For Sci 66:412–421
Kudla J, Batistič O, Hashimoto K (2010) Calcium signals: the lead currency of plant information processing. Plant Cell 22:541–563
Lang A (1990) Xylem, phloem and transpiration flows in developing apple fruits. J Exp Bot 41(6):645–651
Marschner H (2012) Marschner’s mineral nutrition of higher plants, 3rd edition Academic Press, Cambridge
McArtney SJ, Abrams SR, Woolard DD, Petracek PD (2014) Effects of S-abscisic acid and (+)-8′-acetylene abscisic acid on fruit set and stomatal conductance in apple. HortScience 49(6):763–768
Montanaro G, Dichio B, Xiloyannis C, Celano G (2006) Light influences transpiration and calcium accumulation in fruit of kiwifruit plants (Actinidia deliciosa var. deliciosa). Plant Sci 170(3):520–527
Montanaro G, Dichio B, Lang A, Mininni AN, Nuzzo V, Clearwater MJ, Xiloyannis C (2014) Internal versus external control of calcium nutrition in kiwifruit. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 177(6):819–830
Nishigaki S (1962) Use of radioisotope and stable isotope tracers in research on soil-plant relations in Japan. Int J Appl Radiat Isot 13:335–342
Page BD, Bullen TD, Mitchell MJ (2008) Influences of calcium availability and tree species on Ca isotope fractionation in soil and vegetation. Biogeochemistry 88(1):1–13
Plamboeck AH, Nylen T, Grip H (2000) Uptake of cations under two different water regimes in a boreal Scots pine forest. Sci Total Environ 256(2–3):175–183
Rayburn SR (1990) Hazards of radioisotopes. The foundations of laboratory safety. Brock/Springer series in contemporary bioscience, Springer, Berlin pp181–218
Schmitt AD, Gangloff S, Labolle F, Chabaux F, Stille P (2017) Calcium biogeochemical cycle at the beech tree-soil solution interface from the Strengbach CZO (NE France): insights from stable Ca and radiogenic Sr isotopes. Geochim Cosmochim 213:91–109
Shear CB (1975) Calcium-related disorders of fruits and vegetables. HortScience 10:361–365
Shear CB, Faust M (1970) Calcium transport in apple trees. Plant Physiol 45(6):670–674
Simon EW (1978) The symptoms of calcium deficiency in plants. New Phytol 80:1–15
van der Heijden G, Legout A, Midwood AJ, Craig CA, Pollier B, Ranger J, Dambrine E (2013) Mg and Ca root uptake and vertical transfer in soils assessed by an in situ ecosystem-scale multi-isotopic (26 Mg & 44 Ca) tracing experiment in a beech stand (Breuil-Chenue, France). Plant Soil 369(1–2):33–45
van der Heijden G, Dambrine E, Pollier B, Zeller B, Ranger J, Legout A (2015) Mg and Ca uptake by roots in relation to depth and allocation to aboveground tissues: results from an isotopic labeling study in a beech forest on base-poor soil. Biogeochemistry 122(2–3):375–393
Vang-Petersen O (1980) Calcium nutrition of apple trees: a review. Sci Hortic 12(1):1–9
White PJ (2001) The pathways of calcium movement to the xylem. J Exp Bot 52:891–899
White PJ, Broadley MR (2003) Calcium in plants. Ann Bot 92:487–511
Wiersum LK (1966) Calcium content of fruits and storage tissues in relation to the mode of water supply. Acta Bot Neerl 15(2):406–418
Acknowledgements
Appreciation is extended to Celeste Wheeler, Michelle Reid, Katie Mullin, Jordan Briggs, and Ashley Winters for technical assistance.
Funding
This activity was funded, in part, with an Emerging Research Issues Internal Competitive Grant from the Agricultural Research Center at Washington State University, College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. This work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch/Multi-State project 227451. The UR-1138 INRA—Biogéochimie des Ecosystèmes Forestiers is supported by a grant overseen by the French National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the “Investissements d’Avenir” program (ANR-11-LABX-0002-01, Lab of Excellence ARBRE).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by Knoche.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kalcsits, L., van der Heijden, G., Waliullah, S. et al. S-ABA-induced changes in root to shoot partitioning of root-applied 44Ca in apple (Malus domestica Borkh.). Trees 33, 433–442 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-018-1789-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-018-1789-6