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A large proportion of the organic P in soils can occur as scyllo-inositol phosphates. These compounds are rarely detected elsewhere in nature and remain poorly understood, partly because conventional procedures for their determination are lengthy and erroneous. We report a straightforward procedure for the determination of scyllo-inositol phosphates in soil extracts using solution [sup.31]P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Solution [sup.31]P NMR chemical shifts of a range of synthetic scyllo-inositol phosphate esters were determined in alkaline solution. Of these, only the signal corresponding to scyllo-inositol hexakisphosphate at approximately 4.2 ppm was identified in soil NaOH-EDTA extracts, constituting between 6.5 and 9.8% of the NaOH-EDTA extracted P. This signal bas been previously assigned to choline phosphate, but we confirmed it to be an inositol phosphate using hypobromite oxidation, a procedure that destroys all organic matter except inositol phosphates. Lower order scyllo-inositol phosphate esters were not identified in the extracts studied here, and literature reports suggest that they probably occur in insufficient concentrations to be detected by this procedure. The identification of scyllo-inositol hexakisphosphate in soils and other environmental samples will allow its quantification in a range of environments, and facilitate research into the origins and function of this enigmatic compound.

A range of plant species produce root exudates that inhibit ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms. This biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) capacity can decrease N loss and increase N uptake from the rhizosphere. This study sought evidence for the existence and magnitude of BNI capacity in canola (Brassica napus). Seedlings of three canola cultivars, Brachiaria humidicola (BNI positive) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) were grown in a hydroponic system. Root exudates were collected and their inhibition of the ammonia oxidizing bacterium, Nitrosospira multiformis, was tested. Subsequent pot experiments were used to test the inhibition of native nitrifying communities in soil. Root exudates from canola significantly reduced nitrification rates of both N. multiformis cultures and native soil microbial communities. The level of nitrification inhibition across the three cultivars was similar to the well-studied high-BNI species B. humidicola. BNI capacity of canola may have implications for the N dynamics in farming systems and the N uptake efficiency of crops in rotational farming systems. By reducing nitrification rates canola crops may decrease N losses, increase plant N uptake and encourage microbial N immobilization and subsequently increase the pool of organic N that is available for mineralization during the following cereal crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differences in root morphology and acclimation to low‐phosphorus (P) soil were examined among eight legume species from the Trifolium Section Tricocephalum to understand how these root attributes determine P acquisition. Ornithopus sativus was included as a highly P‐efficient benchmark species. Plants were grown as microswards in pots with five rates of P supplied in a topsoil layer to mimic uneven P distribution within a field soil profile. Topsoil and subsoil roots were harvested separately to enable measurement of the nutrient‐foraging responses. Critical P requirement (lowest P supply for maximum yield) varied over a threefold range, reflecting differences in root morphology and acclimation of nutrient‐foraging roots to P stress. Among the species, there was a 3.2‐fold range in root length density, a 1.7‐fold range in specific root length, and a 2.1‐fold range in root hair length. O. sativus had the lowest critical P requirement, displayed a high root length density, the highest specific root length, and the longest root hairs. Acquisition of P from P‐deficient soil was facilitated by development of a large root hair cylinder (i.e. a large root–soil interface). This, in turn, was determined by the intrinsic root morphology attributes of each genotype, and the plasticity of its root morphology response to internal P stress. Root acclimation in low‐P soil by all species was mostly associated with preferential allocation of mass to nutrient‐foraging roots. Only O. sativus and four of the Trifolium species adjusted specific root length beneficially, and only O. sativus increased its root hair length in low‐P soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transposon Tn5 is used in an attempt to identify genes that are involved in the tolerance for growth of acid-tolerant Rhibozium leguminosarum biovar trifolii ANU1173 at a low pH on a defined laboratory medium. At least two loci (mutants AS28 and AS25) of either plasmid or chromosomal location are necessary for the growth of this strain of media at a pH of less than 4.8. The cytoplasmic pH are controlled by acid sensitive mutants in a restricted way.