Boron in Soils and Plants: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Boron in Soils and Plants held at Chiang Mai, Thailand, 7–11 September, 1997 (Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, 76)

The economic significance of boron (B) in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry has been beyond dispute for several decades. Even in the last two decades, the areas where B deficiency limits plant production has grown with increased reports from China, south Asia and southeast Asia. The present volume is reflective of the growing awareness of the significance of low soil B with reports from Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, north, central and southern China, India, Nepal, and the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan contained herein. Boron deficiency also continues to be a problem for crop yield and quality in areas where B deficiency has been known for some time, for example in Germany and the USA. The problem of low soil B is not limited to effects on field crop yield, with papers reporting on depressed wood yield and quality in timber trees (Lambert et al. ), and depressed fruit quality (Dong et al. ; Smith et al. : Zude et al. ) also appearing in the present volume. Globally, Shorrocks (1997)1 estimates that ?? tonnes of B fertiliser is applied annually in agriculture. The economic benefits from the use of B fertiliser have not been quantified but are clearly enormous. Paradoxically, the clear economic imperatives for using B fertiliser on low B soils are not matched by a similar clarity of understanding of the role and functions of B in plants. Front Matter....Pages i-xiv The problem of boron deficiency in crop production in Bangladesh....Pages 1-5 Effects of boron, potassium, sulfur, magnesium application on rapeseed and mulberry yield and quality....Pages 7-9 A foliar boron nutrition and insecticide program for soybean....Pages 11-15 Soil Boron Content and the Effects of Boron Application on Yields of Maize, Soybean, Rice and Sugarbeet in Heilongjiang Province, P R China....Pages 17-21 Sunflower response to boron as affected by liming....Pages 23-27 Covering plants at night in the winter increased seed yield of transplanted oilseed rape ( Brassica napus L. cv. Zheyouyou 2) on a low boron soil....Pages 29-34 Effects of boron and iron on yield and yield components of wheat....Pages 35-37 Flue gas desulfurization residue: a boron source for alfalfa production....Pages 39-42 Long-term field experiment on the application of slow-release boron fertilizer Part 1 Effect of boron on crop growth....Pages 43-48 Long-term field experiment on the application of slow-release boron fertilizer Part 2 Behavior of boron in the soil....Pages 49-56 The influence of boron fertilizer on distribution of extractable boron in soil profiles in rape-rice rotations in southeast China....Pages 57-61 Boron analysis at different stages of the cell cycle in cultured tobacco cells....Pages 63-67 Analysis by Prompt Gamma-Ray Method with Cold Neutrons of Boron and Other Elements in Soybean....Pages 69-72 Total boron determination in silicate material with azomethine-H, after extraction with boron specific resin....Pages 73-75 An improved procedure for the extraction of plant available soil boron....Pages 77-81 Boron nutrition of radiata pine plantations in Australia....Pages 83-88 Diagnosis and prognosis of boron deficiency in black gram ( Vigna mungo L. Hepper) in the field by using plant analysis....Pages 89-93 Diagnosis and alleviation of boron deficiency causing flower and pod abortion in chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) in Nepal....Pages 95-99 Screening wheat for boron efficiency....Pages 101-104 Chromosomal variations for boron tolerance in wheat ( Triticum aestivum )....Pages 105-109 Genetic variation in the tolerance of durum wheat ( Triticum turgidum L. var durum ) to high concentrations of boron....Pages 111-115 Variation in boron-toxicity tolerance in a durum wheat core collection....Pages 117-120 Effects of foliar applications of boron on citrus fruit and on foliage and soil boron concentration....Pages 121-123 Boron and fruit quality of apple....Pages 125-129 Boron deficiency of avocado. 1. Effects on pollen viability and fruit set....Pages 131-133 Boron deficiency of avocado. 2. Effects on fruit size and ripening....Pages 135-137 Influence of boron spray on boron concentration, fruit set and calcium related disorders in apple ( Malus domestica ) cv. ‘Elstar’/M26....Pages 139-143 Boron toxicity in sunflower....Pages 145-149 Challenging the dogma of a narrow supply range between deficiency and toxicity of boron....Pages 151-155 Water supply influences boron uptake by transplanted oilseed rape ( Brassica napus cv. Eureka) grown in low boron soil....Pages 157-160 Effect of boron on the growth of mungbean seedlings under aluminium stress....Pages 161-164 The effect of boron on growth and development in strawberry ( Fragaria ananassa Duch.) shoot culture....Pages 165-169 Composition of root exudates and root bleeding sap of a boron-efficient and inefficient oilseed rape genotype....Pages 171-174 Role of boron in the plasmalemma turbo reductase activity....Pages 175-177 Growth of lateral buds versus changes of endogenous indoleacetic acid and zeatin/zeatin riboside content in pea plants grown under boron deficiency....Pages 179-182 Effect of pH and boron concentration in the nutrient solution on translocation of boron in the xylem of sunflower....Pages 183-186 Boron and calcium distribution in B and Ca deficient pea plants....Pages 187-190 Comparative study of foliar uptake and translocation of boron ( 10 B) supplied as four different products in radish plants....Pages 191-195 Absorption and distribution of boron in Arabidopsis thaliana ....Pages 197-201 Compartmentation of boron in roots and its translocation to the shoot of sunflower as affected by short term changes in boron supply....Pages 203-207 Absorption, movement and distribution of boron applied to peach ( Prunus persica L. Batsch) fruits....Pages 209-212 The effect of boron deficiency on development in determinate nodules: changes in cell wall pectin contents and nodule polypeptide expression....Pages 213-220 Early effects of boron deficiency on physical cell wall parameters, hydraulic conductivity and plasmalemma-bound reductase activities in young C. pepo and V. faba roots....Pages 221-227 A fluorescein boronic acid conjugate as a marker for borate binding sites in the apoplast of growing roots of Zea mays L. and Helianthus annuus L.....Pages 229-235 In vitro reconstitution of the boron-polysaccharide complex purified from cultured tobacco BY-2 cells....Pages 237-241 Immunocytochemistry of the borate-rhamnogalacturonan II complex in cell walls of radish roots....Pages 243-249 Distribution of water soluble boron in soils of different agro-climatic regions of Karnataka state, India....Pages 251-254 Characterization of boron adsorption in soils of Tamil Nadu (S. India)....Pages 255-259 Relationship between water table depth, soil boron and sunflower genotypic response on a saline soil....Pages 261-264 Soil contamination with boron due to irrigation with treated municipal waste water....Pages 265-270 The present volume and its companion, Boron in Soil and Plants: Reviews, contain the most significant advances in boron nutrition at a time when our understanding of the subject is advancing rapidly. They will serve as authoritative references for researchers, university lecturers and graduate students. There is also sufficient practical information on the use of boron in agriculture, forestry and horticulture for advisers and fertiliser representatives to find these volumes valuable references. For agriculture, horticulture, and forestry, papers on the effectiveness of boron fertilisers and the selection of boron-efficient and boron-tolerant cultivars will attract interest. Physiologists will be interested in new findings on the location of boron in cells, the function of boron in cell walls and the new techniques used for these studies. Boron toxicity is a significant problem in many areas of the world. However, papers in the present volume challenge a long-held dogma of boron research that a narrow range exists between deficiency and toxicity of boron