EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT CONCENTRATIONS OF NITRATE ON THE GROWTH AND VITAMIN CONTENT OF OAT PLANTS

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Abstract
Oat plants were grown 84 days in sand culture with nutrient solns. containing 2.5, 10, 15, 20, and 22.5 millimoles of nitrate/1. 50 plants were used in each of the 5 treatments. Fresh wts. of each of the plants were detd. 15 plants from each of the 5 treatments were analyzed individually for pantothenic acid and biotin content. Dry wts. and percentages of N were detd. for the remaining 35 plants from each treatment. When the concn. of NO3 in the nutrient soln. was raised from 2.5-10 m[image]/1., highly significant (<P0.01) increases in fresh and dry wt. production, tillering, pantothenic acid, and biotin content were found. Further increase in NO3 concn. from 10-22.5 m[image]/1. resulted in a highly significant (<P0.01) increase in the number of tillers/plant. Increasing the NO3 from 10.0-22.5 m[image]/1. resulted in further increases in fresh and dry wt. production, but these were not significant. Biotin content increased when the NO3 was increased from 10-15 m[image]/1. and then decreased as NO3 was increased to 22.5 mM/1. These differences were not significant. The pantothenic acid content did not vary significantly as NO3 was increased from 10-22.5 mM/1. Increases in the percentage N with increases in NO3 approximated a straight line function. Statistical analyses of these differences were not made.