Concentration of vanadium in soil water and its effect on growth and metabolism of rye and wheat plants

Because the vanadium (V) chemistry provides that a significant amount of V in soil water can exist as vanadate which has been shown to have inhibitory effects on plant some enzymes, we analyzed the concentration of V in soil water, and examined the effect of such concentrations of vanadate on plant growth and metabolism. Concentration of V in water of collected soil sample s was 0.013 to 0.040 mu M. Vanadate-treatment experiments with rye or wheat showed that 0.1 mu M vanadate had slight effects on seed germination, and growth (shoot and root), photosynthesis (leaf), respiration (leaf and root) , and three typical types of membrane H+-ATPases (leaf and root) of the pla nts and contents of cellular various components (leaf and root). These resu lts, at least, suggest that even if all of the V in soil water exists in th e form of vanadate, effects of the vanadate on growth and metabolisms of ry e or wheat may be insignificant.