Publications by authors named "Britta Pitann"

Introduction: Waterlogging is one vast environmental constraint that limits crop growth and yield worldwide. Most major crop species are very sensitive to waterlogging, leading to enormous yield losses every year. Much is already known about wheat, barley or maize; however, hardly any data exist on oat and its tolerance against waterlogging.

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Maize ( L.) is one of the world's most important crops, but its productivity is at high risk as climate change increases the risk of water stress. Therefore, the development of mitigation strategies to combat water stress in agriculture is fundamental to ensure food security.

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Legume-rhizobia symbiosis requires high phosphorus (P) in the form of ATP to convert atmospheric nitrogen (N) into ammonia. The fixed ammonia is converted to NH by H-ATPase via protonation. To the best of our knowledge, most of these research works resort to using only inorganic P (Pi) to the neglect of the organic P (Po) counterpart.

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Salinity stress is a major factor affecting the nutritional and metabolic profiles of crops, thus hindering optimal yield and productivity. Recent advances in nanotechnology propose an avenue for the use of nano-fertilizers as a potential solution for better nutrient management and stress mitigation. This study aimed to evaluate the benefits of conventional and nano-fertilizers (nano-Zn/nano-Si) on maize and subcellular level changes in its ionomic and metabolic profiles under salt stress conditions.

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Nitrification inhibitors (NIs) and drip irrigation are recommended to mitigate trace gas emissions from agricultural soils. However, studies comparing the effect of different NIs on the release of trace gases from soils with contrasting textures under subsurface (SBD) and surface (SD) drip irrigation are lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effectiveness of three NIs in mitigating nitrous oxide (NO), carbon dioxide (CO), and methane (CH) emissions from two soils with different textures under SBD, with pipe buried in 10 cm depth, and SD.

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Silicon (Si)-mediated growth promotion of various grasses is well documented. In the present study, Si-induced changes in maize shoot growth and its underlying mechanisms were studied. Maize plants were grown with various concentrations of Si (0-3 mM) in the nutrient solution.

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One crucial aspect for successful foliar application is the uptake of the nutrient into the symplast for metabolization by the plant. Our aim was to determine the subcellular distribution of foliar-applied P in leaves, the translocation of this element within the whole plant, and its impact on the ion status of P-deficient maize plants within the first 48 h of treatment. Maize plants with P deficiency were sprayed with 200 mM KHPO.

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Silicon (Si) can alleviate cadmium (Cd) toxicity in many plants, but mechanisms underlying this beneficial effect are still lacking. In this study, the roles of Si in time-dependent apoplastic and symplastic Cd absorption by roots of wheat plants were investigated. Results showed that, during short-term Cd exposure, the symplastic pathway of Cd in roots was not significantly affected by Si.

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In the first phase of salt stress the elongation growth of maize shoots is severely affected. The fixation of shape at the end of the elongation phase in Poaceae leaves has frequently been attributed to the formation of phenolic cross-links in the cell wall. In the present work it was investigated whether this process is accelerated under salt stress in different maize hybrids.

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Salinity is one of the major stress factors responsible for growth reduction of most of the higher plants. In this study, the effect of salt stress on protein pattern in shoots and roots of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) was examined.

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Cell wall extensibility plays an important role in plant growth. According to the acid-growth theory, lower apoplastic pH allows extension growth by affecting cell wall extensibility. A lowered apoplastic pH is presumed to activate wall-loosening enzymes that control plant growth.

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The apoplastic ionic milieu contains essential determinants for cell expansion and plant growth. Since pH is a multifunctional basic component of this extracellular space, the knowledge of its behaviour during stress situations is of major importance. In detached leaves of maize (Zea mays L.

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