Abstract
When the rate of N fertilization was increased from 36 lbs/acre to 336 lbs/acre, the total amino acid pool in the tubers almost doubled. The increases for individual amino acids ranged from none (tyrosine) to 2.7 fold (glutamic acid + glutamine). Aspartic acid and glutamic acid and their corresponding amides constituted the bulk of the free amino acid pool, and increased from 55% to 65% with increasing fertilization.
Lysine increased by 1.9 times and methionine by 1.4 times with increasing nitrogen fertilization but the relative proportions of lysine in the pool remained unchanged and methionine decreased from 2.2% to 1.6%.
The amino acids could be grouped into four categories with respect to their response to increasing nitrogen levels: those giving almost no response (tyrosine and phenylalanine), those giving full response at low levels of N (amino acids of the serine and pyruvate families), those giving full response at a higher but intermediate level (amino acids of the aspartate family), and those which responded to the highest level of fertilization (glutamic acid + glutamine).
The gas chromatographic method used in this study for the analysis of free amino acids is discussed.
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Additional information
Journal Paper No. 4390. Purdue University, Agricultural Experiment Station, Lafayette, Indiana
Department of Horticulture.
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Hoff, J.E., Jones, C.M., Wilcox, G.E. et al. The effect of nitrogen fertilization on the composition of the free amino acid pool of poato tubers. American Potato Journal 48, 390–394 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02861758
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02861758