BACKGROUND Glycyrrhiza (licorice) an herb, which has medicinal value and was used in ancient times as a remedy for a great diversity of ailments and sweetener. Roots of Glycyrrhiza contain a high concentration of saponin and glycyrrhizin, which are supposed to be sweetening agents. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of aqueous and alcoholic licorice root extract against Streptococ...

NADH-dependent glutamate synthase (NADH-GOGAT; EC 1.4.1.14) is a key enzyme in primary nitrogen assimilation in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) root nodules. Here we report that in alfalfa, a single gene, probably with multiple alleles, encodes for NADH-GOGAT. In situ hybridizations were performed to assess the location of NADH-GOGAT transcript in alfalfa root nodules. In wild-type cv Saranac nodu...

Nitrate is an essential nutrient for plants, and crops depend on its availability for growth and development, but its presence in agricultural soils is far from stable. In order to overcome nitrate fluctuations in soil, plants have developed adaptive mechanisms allowing them to grow despite changes in external nitrate availability. Nitrate can act as both nutrient and signal, regulating global ...

Seedlings of maize (Zea mays L. cv WF9 x Mo 17) were grown in vermiculite at various water potentials. The primary root continued slow rates of elongation at water potentials which completely inhibited shoot growth. To gain an increased understanding of the root growth response, we examined the spatial distribution of growth at various water potentials. Time lapse photography of the growth of m...

Field-based soil moisture measurements are cumbersome. Remote sensing techniques based on active or passive microwave data have limitations. This paper presents and validates a new method based on land surface energy balances using remotely sensed optical data ~including thermal infrared!, which allows field and landscape-scale mapping of soil moisture depth-averaged through the root zone of ex...

To understand how root growth responds to temperature, we used kinematic analysis to quantify division and expansion parameters in the root of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plants were grown at temperatures from 15 to 30 °C, given continuously from germination. Over these temperatures, root length varies more than threefold in the wild type but by only twofold in a double mutant for phytochrome-interac...

Nutrient uptake by trees is determined by root interception, soil availability, and tree demand. Fruit trees have low rooting density, especially in the case of dwarfing rootstocks. Mobility in the soil is a key factor in determining nutrient availability, and good management of nutrients requires that supply is matched to demand, in terms of amount, timing and retention in the root-zone, and t...

Pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophic bacteria (PPFMs) are associated with the roots, leaves and seeds of most terrestrial plants and utilize volatile C(1) compounds such as methanol generated by growing plants during cell division. PPFMs have been well studied in agricultural systems due to their importance in crop seed germination, yield, pathogen resistance and drought stress tolerance. ...

The short-term influence (5-180 min) of 50 microM Al on cell division was investigated in root tips of two Zea mays L. varieties differing in Al-resistance. The incorporation of bromodeoxyuridine into S-phase nuclei was visualized by immunofluorescence staining using confocal laser fluorescence microscopy. In Al-sensitive plants 5 min Al exposure was enough to inhibit cell division in the proxi...