Mineral nutrition in white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) seeds and somatic embryos. I. phosphorus, phytic acid, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and zinc
Da. Reid et al., Mineral nutrition in white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) seeds and somatic embryos. I. phosphorus, phytic acid, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and zinc, PLANT SCI, 141(1), 1999, pp. 11-18
The mineral nutrient storage reserves in white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench
] Voss) somatic embryos and various parts of white spruce seeds were invest
igated. Somatic embryos are embryos produced in tissue culture. A single so
matic embryo or zygotic embryo contained similar amounts of P and both type
s of embryos had similar amounts of the total P present in phytic acid (PA)
. The large female gametophyte tissue, which is absent in a somatic embryo,
contained 86% of the total P and 95% of the total phytic acid-phosphorus (
PA-P) in a single seed. The female gametophyte of a single seed contained a
pproximate to 7 times more P and approximate to 22 times more PA-P than a s
ingle zygotic embryo. Somatic and zygotic embryos had significantly less of
their P present in PA than did the female gametophyte tissue, which has ov
er 87% of its P present in PA. A single somatic embryo or zygotic embryo co
ntained similar amounts of K, Mg, Ca, Fe and Zn. The female gametophyte tis
sue contained 59% of the K, 85% of the Mg, 28% of the Ca, 69% of the Fe, an
d 65% of the Zn in a single seed. The seed coat of a single seed contained
the majority of a seed's Ca (71%) and also contained significant levels of
K, Fe and Zn. On a dry weight (DW) basis, differences were found in the amo
unts of all the mineral nutrients studied here because somatic embryos are
larger than zygotic embryos. Overall, a white spruce somatic embryo has equ
ivalent amounts of all these nutrients as found in a natural white spruce z
ygotic embryo. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.