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Agronomy
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Role of Iron in Plant Nutrition, Growth and Metabolism
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Role of Iron in Plant Nutrition, Growth and Metabolism

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2020) | Viewed by 21000

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Tanja Mimmo

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Guest Editor
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
Interests: rhizosphere processes; soil–plant–microorganisms interactions; plant nutrition; nutrients interaction; abiotic and biotic stress; heavy metals
Prof. Roberto Terzano

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Guest Editor
Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari, via Giovanni Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: X-ray analyses; soil chemistry; analytical chemistry; environmental chemistry; agricultural chemistry; biogeochemistry of trace elements; soil-plant interactions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Gianpiero Vigani

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Guest Editor
Plant Physiology Unit, Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
Interests: plant's responses to abiotic stresses (nutrient deficiencies, water deficiency and salt stress); interaction among nutrients in plants and the impact of multiple nutrients stress on plant growth and metabolism; effect of belowground plant-microbe interactions on plant nutritional status
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Limited iron (Fe) availability in soils is one of the main limiting factors of yield and quality of agricultural productions worldwide, particularly in alkaline and calcareous soils. This poor availability is closely linked to physical, chemical, and biological processes within the rhizosphere as a result of soil–microorganism–plant interactions. Iron deficiency induces several mechanisms in soil organisms resulting in enhanced release of high and low molecular weight organic compounds termed exudates to increase the solubility of poorly available Fe pools and triggering chemical, biochemical, and physical interactions at the soil–root interface. Furthermore, Fe deficiency impairs plant ionome at the whole, since synergisms and/or antagonisms among elements occur in the plant–soils system. An adequate availability of Fe is needed to guarantee an optimum plant performance and growth, yet the chemical form of the metal, i.e., its speciation, is also crucial and able to influence gene regulation, metabolic activity and elements distribution within cells and within plants.

Iron shortage in plants might be prevented by the application of Fe fertilizers either at the soil or leaf level. Fertilization of Fe has been lately also used not only to counteract limited Fe uptake but also to enhance Fe allocation obtaining Fe-enriched crops (i.e., biofortification).  

This Special Issue focuses on the following aspects: (i) rhizosphere processes driving Fe availability, including mineral weathering and Fe mobilization from soil solid phases; (ii) plant–soil–microorganisms interactions, focusing on beneficial microbial communities and their association with plants, which in turn influence plant Fe uptake and allocation; (iii) nutrients interactions in soil and plant triggered by Fe shortage; (v) Fe fertilizers used in agricultural production systems to enhance Fe availability and acquisition by crops including aspects of biofortification; and (vi) innovative analytical methods for Fe quantification and speciation is soil and plants.

Review articles and viewpoints related to the topic of the Special Issue are also welcome.

Prof. Tanja Mimmo
Dr. Roberto Terzano
Dr. Gianpiero Vigani
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Iron
  • Rhizosphere processes
  • Soil–plant–microorganisms interactions
  • Nutrients interaction
  • Fertilizer
  • Element speciation
  • Biofortification

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1355 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of a Legume-Derived Protein Hydrolysate to Mitigate Iron Deficiency in Plants
by Silvia Celletti, Stefania Astolfi, Nicoletta Guglielmo, Giuseppe Colla, Stefano Cesco and Tanja Mimmo
Agronomy 2020, 10(12), 1942; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy10121942 - 10 Dec 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3080
Abstract
Biostimulants play an important role in the development of management practices able to reach adequate productivity to meet the food demand of a growing world population, while following a sustainable agriculture model. This work aims to evaluate the effect of a protein hydrolysate [...] Read more.
Biostimulants play an important role in the development of management practices able to reach adequate productivity to meet the food demand of a growing world population, while following a sustainable agriculture model. This work aims to evaluate the effect of a protein hydrolysate derived from legume seeds by enzymatic hydrolysis on plant growth and also to verify its ability to mitigate Fe deficiency, a widespread problem significantly limiting plant growth and crop productivity. Experiments were performed with tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.—cv. AKRAI F1) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.—cv. EKRON F1). The plants were grown hydroponically under adequate or limited Fe supply. Changes in shoot and root fresh weight, leaf relative chlorophyll content and the accumulation of macro- and microelements in shoots and roots were measured. Plant ability to cope with Fe deficiency was measured by evaluating the activity of root Fe3+-chelate reductase. Our results indicate that the foliar treatments with the protein hydrolysate did not significantly affect growth parameters when plants were grown in full nutrient solution. However, the biostimulant was able to improve the growth performance of Fe-deficient plants. Therefore, the protein hydrolysate can be a powerful tool to stimulate crop growth under Fe-deficient environments, leading to reduced fertilizer inputs with related environmental and economic benefits. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Iron in Plant Nutrition, Growth and Metabolism)
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13 pages, 775 KiB  
Article
Testing a Bovine Blood-Derived Compound as Iron Supply on Cucumis sativus L.
by Michele Di Foggia, Felipe Yunta-Mezquita, Vitaliano Tugnoli, Adamo Domenico Rombolà and Juan José Lucena
Agronomy 2020, 10(10), 1480; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy10101480 - 27 Sep 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2141
Abstract
A new powder formulation obtained from bovine blood (Fe-heme) was tested on cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) to investigate its effectiveness as iron supply in comparison with two synthetic iron-chelates fertilizers: ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA/Fe3+) and ethylenediamine-N’N’-bis(2-hydroxyphenyl acetic acid) (o,oEDDHA/Fe [...] Read more.
A new powder formulation obtained from bovine blood (Fe-heme) was tested on cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) to investigate its effectiveness as iron supply in comparison with two synthetic iron-chelates fertilizers: ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA/Fe3+) and ethylenediamine-N’N’-bis(2-hydroxyphenyl acetic acid) (o,oEDDHA/Fe3+). Green stressed cucumber plants were evaluated in their recovery (SPAD index and weight variations) and to test the iron reduction capacity of the roots at pH 7.5 and 6.0 using each iron treatment as iron supply. The blood-derived product showed similar effects on decreasing iron-deficiency symptoms: SPAD increments and the weights of plants were similar. Noteworthy, the average of Fe3+ reduction capacity in roots was higher for EDTA/Fe3+, while it was similar for o,oEDDHA/Fe3+, and Fe-heme at pH 7.5. Fe-heme showed a complex behavior due to aggregation and low solubility at pH 6 and showed an unexpectedly high contribution of root exudates to iron reduction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Iron in Plant Nutrition, Growth and Metabolism)
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15 pages, 1700 KiB  
Article
Temporal Responses to Direct and Induced Iron Deficiency in Parietaria judaica
by Liliana Tato, Monirul Islam, Tanja Mimmo, Graziano Zocchi and Gianpiero Vigani
Agronomy 2020, 10(7), 1037; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy10071037 - 18 Jul 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2395
Abstract
Parietaria judaica grows in highly calcareous environments, overcoming the low bioavailability of Fe caused by elevated pH. The aim of this work was to investigate the temporal dynamics of root exudation of P. judaica under Fe deficiency conditions. As high concentrations of bicarbonate [...] Read more.
Parietaria judaica grows in highly calcareous environments, overcoming the low bioavailability of Fe caused by elevated pH. The aim of this work was to investigate the temporal dynamics of root exudation of P. judaica under Fe deficiency conditions. As high concentrations of bicarbonate and Ca2+ in calcareous soils interfere with the general plant mineral nutrition, two different alkaline growing conditions were applied to distinguish the effects due to the high pH from the responses induced by the presence of high calcium carbonate concentrations. Growth parameters and physiological responses were analyzed during a 7 day time course—shoot and root biomass, chlorophyll and flavonoid contents in leaves, root accumulation, and exudation of organic acids and phenolics were determined. Different responses were found in plants grown in the presence of bicarbonate and in the presence of an organic pH buffer, revealing a time- and condition-dependent response of P. judaica and suggesting a stronger stress in the buffer treatment. The high tolerance to alkaline conditions may be related to an earlier and greater exudation rate of phenolics, as well as to the synergistic effect of phenolics and carboxylic acids in root exudates in the late response. The identification of the main functional traits involved in tolerance to low Fe availability in a wild species could offer crucial inputs for breeding programs for application to crop species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Iron in Plant Nutrition, Growth and Metabolism)
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15 pages, 1504 KiB  
Article
Physiological Responses to Fe Deficiency in Split-Root Tomato Plants: Possible Roles of Auxin and Ethylene?
by Silvia Celletti, Youry Pii, Fabio Valentinuzzi, Raphael Tiziani, Maria Chiara Fontanella, Gian Maria Beone, Tanja Mimmo, Stefano Cesco and Stefania Astolfi
Agronomy 2020, 10(7), 1000; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy10071000 - 11 Jul 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3141
Abstract
Iron (Fe) bioavailability in soils is often limited and can be further exacerbated by a non- homogeneous distribution in the soil profile, which has been demonstrated to vary both in space and time. Consequently, plants respond with morphological and physiological modifications at the [...] Read more.
Iron (Fe) bioavailability in soils is often limited and can be further exacerbated by a non- homogeneous distribution in the soil profile, which has been demonstrated to vary both in space and time. Consequently, plants respond with morphological and physiological modifications at the root level involving a complex local and systemic signaling machinery. The present work unravels the role of two phytohormones (i.e., ethylene and auxin) and their integrated signaling in plant response to Fe deficiency. Inhibitors of auxin polar transport and of ethylene biosynthesis (N-1-naphthylphthalamic acid - NPA and aminoethoxyvinylglycine - AVG, respectively) were applied on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plants grown by the split-root technique, which allows to simulate condition of Fe heterogeneous distribution. Results showed that plants, exposed to an uneven Fe supply, triggered a complex auxin-ethylene signaling. A systemic action of auxin on FERRIC REDUCTASE OXIDASE 1 (SlFRO1) expression was revealed, while ethylene signaling was effective both locally and systemically. In addition, the investigation of Fe concentration in tissues showed that when leaves overcame Fe deficiency a Fe “steady state” was maintained. Therefore, physiological adaptation to this heterogeneous Fe supply could be mediated by the integration of the complex signaling pathways prompted by both auxin and ethylene activities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Iron in Plant Nutrition, Growth and Metabolism)
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12 pages, 1927 KiB  
Article
Crop Yield, Ferritin and Fe(II) boosted by Azospirillum brasilense (HM053) in Corn
by Stephanie Scott, Alexandra Housh, Garren Powell, Ashley Anstaett, Amber Gerheart, Mary Benoit, Stacy Wilder, Michael Schueller and Richard Ferrieri
Agronomy 2020, 10(3), 394; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy10030394 - 14 Mar 2020
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3487
Abstract
An increasing global population of over 4.5 billion people drives increasing demand for calories—30% of which are satisfied by grain crops, such as maize. High-density farming practices have been implemented but tend to deplete the soil of essential elements resulting in lower nutritional [...] Read more.
An increasing global population of over 4.5 billion people drives increasing demand for calories—30% of which are satisfied by grain crops, such as maize. High-density farming practices have been implemented but tend to deplete the soil of essential elements resulting in lower nutritional value, notably iron, of cultivated crops. Low iron content in staple crops can contribute over time to severe, even fatal, micronutrient deficiencies. Enhancing grain iron content using post-harvest biofortification strategies can be costly. However, field inoculation using biologics like Azospirillum brasilense (HM053) can be a cost-effective alternative to improving crop nutritional value. Using ion chromatography with chemiluminescence detection, we have shown that maize seeds harvested from outdoor pot-grown plants possessed a four-fold higher iron content as ferrous iron (Fe+2) compared to non-inoculated plants. Seeds from A. brasilense HM053-inoculated plants also contained approximately 13 nmol of ferritin per ground dried weight of kernel compared to 3 nmol from non-inoculated plants. In addition, A. brasilense HM053 inoculation increased crop yield 30–50% relative to non-inoculated plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Iron in Plant Nutrition, Growth and Metabolism)
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20 pages, 3434 KiB  
Article
Alleviation of Salinity Induced Oxidative Stress in Chenopodium quinoa by Fe Biofortification and Biochar—Endophyte Interaction
by Muhammad Naveed, Natasha Ramzan, Adnan Mustafa, Abdul Samad, Bushra Niamat, Muhammad Yaseen, Zulfiqar Ahmad, Mirza Hasanuzzaman, Nan Sun, Weiqi Shi and Minggang Xu
Agronomy 2020, 10(2), 168; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy10020168 - 24 Jan 2020
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4022
Abstract
Iron-biofortification is a sustainable food-based approach to combat iron deficiency by increasing iron content and bioavailability in agronomic crops. Siderophore producing microbes offer a sustainable and low-cost way to increase iron supply in crops. Also, certain substances released from organic amendments act as [...] Read more.
Iron-biofortification is a sustainable food-based approach to combat iron deficiency by increasing iron content and bioavailability in agronomic crops. Siderophore producing microbes offer a sustainable and low-cost way to increase iron supply in crops. Also, certain substances released from organic amendments act as iron-chelators which increase the solubility as well as the availability of iron to plants. Present study investigated the role of siderophore-producing endophytic bacteria and biochar on iron-fortification of a novel crop quinoa in iron-limited saline conditions. The surface-disinfected seeds of quinoa were inoculated with Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN (CFU = 109) and sown in saline soil (EC 20 dS m−1) amended with biochar (1% w/w). Results revealed that biochar and PsJN particularly when applied together significantly enhanced plant growth, grain yield, and grain nutrient contents of quinoa. Strikingly, iron concentration in quinoa grains was increased up to 71% by the combined application of biochar and PsJN. Moreover, plant physiological parameters were also improved significantly by the integrated application. However, enzymatic/non-enzymatic antioxidants activities were decreased by integrated treatment thus ameliorated salinity stress. Our study suggests that integrated application of siderophore-producing bacteria and biochar could be a promising, sustainable and cost-effective strategy which is easily integratable into the existing farming practices to achieve food fortification with micronutrients in developing countries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Iron in Plant Nutrition, Growth and Metabolism)
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