Excretion of nitrogen compounds by some legumes grown in sand culture
1945
Myers, H.G.
Grasses and associations of legumes and grasses were grown in sand cultures. Excretion was determined by observing whether the associated nonlegume benefited during growth and by nitrogen analyses of the plants in some of the experiments. The effect of a number of differences in experimental procedures and growth conditions upon nitrogen excretion was tried, including different plant associations, variations in potassium supply, planting method and day length, different sources of legume organisms, addition of a commercial vitamin B1 preparation, addition of sterile and unsterile soil, and a variety of carefully controlled conditions including abrupt changes in day length and temperature during the state of rapid growth. Grasses benefited six times in 157 associations with legumes, 114 of which were combinations of hairy vetch and Balbo rye. The evidence for excretion in two of the six cases is inconclusive. The gain by the nonlegume did not exceed 2.5 mgm of nitrogen per container in the other four instances, whereas approximately 40 mgm of nitrogen were fixed per container. Excretion, at most, was infrequent and of insignificant amounts. Addition of soil to some of the sand cultures did not result in transfer of fixed nitrogen to the nonlegume until a late growth stage in the legume.
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