Abstract
The small grain cereal, finger millet (FM, Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn), is valued by subsistence farmers in India and East Africa as a low-input crop. It is reported by farmers to require no added nitrogen (N), or only residual N, to produce grain. Exact mechanisms underlying the acclimation responses of FM to low N are largely unknown, both above and below ground. In particular, the responses of FM roots and root hairs to N or any other nutrient have not previously been reported. Given its low N requirement, FM also provides a rare opportunity to study long-term responses to N starvation in a cereal species. The objective of this study was to survey the shoot and root morphometric responses of FM, including root hairs, to low N stress. Plants were grown in pails in a semi-hydroponic system on clay containing extremely low background N, supplemented with N or no N. To our surprise, plants grown without deliberately added N grew to maturity, looked relatively normal and produced healthy seed heads. Plants responded to the low N treatment by decreasing shoot, root, and seed head biomass. These declines under low N were associated with decreased shoot tiller number, crown root number, total crown root length and total lateral root length, but with no consistent changes in root hair traits. Changes in tiller and crown root number appeared to coordinate the above and below ground acclimation responses to N. We discuss the remarkable ability of FM to grow to maturity without deliberately added N. The results suggest that FM should be further explored to understand this trait. Our observations are consistent with indigenous knowledge from subsistence farmers in Africa and Asia, where it is reported that this crop can survive extreme environments.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Under low N, finger millet decreased shoot, root and seed head biomass.
- Taxon
- finger millet
Eleusine coracanat0 - Treatment
- low N treatmente1
- Outcome
- shoot, root, and seed head biomasse1
- Direction
- decreasinge1
- Comparator
- supplemented with Ne2
- Setting
- semi-hydroponic systeme2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Whole plant acclimation responses by finger millet to low nitrogen stress”
e1“Plants responded to the low N treatment by decreasing shoot, root, and seed head biomass”
e2“Plants were grown in pails in a semi-hydroponic system on clay containing extremely low background N, supplemented with N or no N”
Claim · model-written summary
Decreases under low N were associated with decreased shoot tiller number and crown root number.
- Taxon
- finger milletEleusine coracanat0
- Treatment
- low Ne3
- Outcome
- shoot tiller number, crown root numbere3
- Direction
- decreasede3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Whole plant acclimation responses by finger millet to low nitrogen stress”
e3“These declines under low N were associated with decreased shoot tiller number, crown root number, total crown root length and total lateral root length, but with no consistent changes in root hair traits”
Claim · model-written summary
Decreases under low N were associated with decreased total crown root length and total lateral root length.
- Taxon
- finger milletEleusine coracanat0
- Treatment
- low Ne3
- Outcome
- total crown root length and total lateral root lengthe3
- Direction
- decreasede3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Whole plant acclimation responses by finger millet to low nitrogen stress”
e3“These declines under low N were associated with decreased shoot tiller number, crown root number, total crown root length and total lateral root length, but with no consistent changes in root hair traits”
Claim · model-written summary
Low N was associated with no consistent changes in root hair traits.
- Taxon
- finger milletEleusine coracanat0
- Treatment
- low Ne3
- Outcome
- root hair traitse3
- Direction
- no consistent changese3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Whole plant acclimation responses by finger millet to low nitrogen stress”
e3“These declines under low N were associated with decreased shoot tiller number, crown root number, total crown root length and total lateral root length, but with no consistent changes in root hair traits”
Claim · model-written summary
Changes in tiller and crown root number appear to coordinate the above and below ground acclimation responses to N.
- Taxon
- finger milletEleusine coracanat0
- Outcome
- coordinate the above and below ground acclimation responses to Ne4
- Qualifier
- Changes in tiller and crown root numbere4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Whole plant acclimation responses by finger millet to low nitrogen stress”
e4“Changes in tiller and crown root number appeared to coordinate the above and below ground acclimation responses to N”
Claim · model-written summary
Finger millet plants grown without deliberately added N grew to maturity, looked relatively normal and produced healthy seed heads.
- Taxon
- finger milletEleusine coracanat0
- Treatment
- grown without deliberately added Ne5
- Outcome
- grew to maturity, looked relatively normal and produced healthy seed headse5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Whole plant acclimation responses by finger millet to low nitrogen stress”
e5“To our surprise, plants grown without deliberately added N grew to maturity, looked relatively normal and produced healthy seed heads”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend that finger millet should be further explored to understand its ability to grow without added N.
- Taxon
- finger milletEleusine coracanat0
- Outcome
- further explored to understand this traite6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Whole plant acclimation responses by finger millet to low nitrogen stress”
e6“The results suggest that FM should be further explored to understand this trait”
The same questions in other papers
nitrogen · growth · Eleusine coracana (finger millet)Positive and negative results
16 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
13 papers more in this group
See all 17 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.