Skip to main content
Plant Physiology logoLink to Plant Physiology
. 1980 Oct;66(4):710–714. doi: 10.1104/pp.66.4.710

On the Gaseous Exchange of Ammonia between Leaves and the Environment: Determination of the Ammonia Compensation Point

Graham D Farquhar 1, Peter M Firth 2, Robbert Wetselaar 3, Brian Weir 1
PMCID: PMC440708  PMID: 16661507

Abstract

Whole shoots of Phaseolus vulgaris L. and other species were exposed to a range of partial pressures of gaseous ammonia in air and the resulting fluxes were measured. Net uptake is linear with partial pressure in the range 5 to 50 nanobars and is zero at a finite partial pressure, termed the ammonia compensation point. Below the compensation point, ammonia (or possibly other volatile amines) is evolved by the leaves. The compensation points in several species are near the low partial pressures found in unpolluted air and approximate to the Km of glutamine synthetase in vitro. In P. vulgaris L., the compensation point increases with temperature.

Full text

PDF

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Farquhar G. D., Raschke K. On the Resistance to Transpiration of the Sites of Evaporation within the Leaf. Plant Physiol. 1978 Jun;61(6):1000–1005. doi: 10.1104/pp.61.6.1000. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Farquhar G. D., Wetselaar R., Firth P. M. Ammonia volatilization from senescing leaves of maize. Science. 1979 Mar 23;203(4386):1257–1258. doi: 10.1126/science.203.4386.1257. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Hutchinson G. L., Millington R. J., Peters D. B. Atmospheric ammonia: absorption by plant leaves. Science. 1972 Feb 18;175(4023):771–772. doi: 10.1126/science.175.4023.771. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. O'neal D., Joy K. W. Glutamine synthetase of pea leaves: divalent cation effects, substrate specificity, and other properties. Plant Physiol. 1974 Nov;54(5):773–779. doi: 10.1104/pp.54.5.773. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Porter L. K., Viets F. G., Jr, Hutchinson G. L. Air containing nitrogen-15 ammonia: foliar absorption by corn seedlings. Science. 1972 Feb 18;175(4023):759–761. doi: 10.1126/science.175.4023.759. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Plant Physiology are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES