Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 6
Boron: A Promising Nutrient for Increasing
Growth and Yield of Plants
Himanshu Bariya, Snehal Bagtharia, and Ashish Patel
Abstract Boron (B) is a vital nutrient for plant growth and metabolism. Lack of B
in plant tissues causes reductions in crop yields, whilst an excess supply of B may
also seriously damage plant tissues and sometimes leads to plant death. Appropriate
amounts of B in plants are crucial for normal growth and it significantly increases
seed germination and seedling growth. Moreover B has positive effects on the
uptake and utilization of other nutrients at the whole plant level and it may improve
nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and nutrient demand and supply (NDS). NUE mainly
reflects efficiency of extraction of mineral nutrients from soil along with their
integration and recycling, whereas NDS nutrient shows how efficiently plant can
fulfil the demand and supply rate of required nutrient at different stages and
conditions of plant life cycle. Despite a substantial existing literature, the under-
standing of B interactions with other nutrients remains unclear.
Keywords Boron • NUE (nitrogen use efficiency) • Soil interactions • Deficiency
• Reproductive growth • Photosynthesis • Nutrient interactions
Introduction: Boron in the Soil and in the Plant
Boron belongs to the metalloid elements having properties of both metals and
non-metals (Marschner
1995
). There is very low abundance of B in nature (Kot
2009
) but it is broadly distributed in all the layers of the soil. B abundance range in
rocks averages about 10-20 mg B kg
1
. In sea water it can range from 1 to 10 mg B
kg
1
and as far as river is concern the B concentration is about 1/350 that of sea
water (Power and Woods
1997
).
Warington (
1923
) established the requirement of B for plant growth and func-
tioning, and many recent reports suggest an essentiality of B for all vascular plants.
