Fig. 2.

Phenotypic effect of short-term nutrient deficiency stress. Plants were grown as described in Fig. 1 except all plants were retained until the end of the study for phenotyping. a Sixth trifoliate. The average size of trifoliates from stressed plants is larger than that of plants maintained in optimal nutrient solutions throughout the experiment. b Root weight (grams). c Shoot weight (grams). Nutrient deficiency stress at T2 results in statistically significant increases in root (b) and shoot (c) weights. d Shoot diameter (mm), not significantly affected by nutrient deficiency stresses. e Chlorophyll content, as measured by SPAD, confirms plants exposed to multiple rounds of nutrient deficiency (both –Fe and –Pi) and late (T2) nutrient deficiency contain enhanced chlorophyll content compared to control plants