Aspects of Phosphorus Metabolism in the Cotton Plant.

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Abstract
Cotton grown in sand and water cultures required unusually high substrate P levels for normal growth. Under low-P, root growth was depressed less and reproductive growth more than that of the leaves and stems. Alcohol-extracted P was sufficient for an average of 50% phosphoryla-tion of the reducing sugars in high-P plants and only 5% of that in low-P. Low-P decreased percentages of Ca, Mg, K, and S, and, also, of inorganic and protein N, but it increased reducing sugars, starch, and soluble organic N. Low-P water cultures that reduced growth to 75% of the controls, reduced total P in leaves to 41%, soluble organic P to 58%, nucleic acid P to 50%, and protein P to 56%. Ten-day-old ovules with lint hairs were high in lipid P but contained only a third as much total P as leaves.