Mineral Stress and Plant Adaptations to Marginal Agricultural Soils

Plant production on marginal agricultural soils is limited by various environmental factors which decrease crop yields and economic returns. Mineral stress (nutrient deficiency and element toxicity) is one of the key abiotic factors causing low productivity of these soils. The proposed research will include three groups of agricultural soils low in organic matter (strongly acid, strongly calcareous, and soils degraded by industrial activities), on which limited plant growth caused by mineral stress is both locally (Serbia) and globally important economical problem. The objective of the proposed research is to elucidate adaptive mechanisms of different plant species to mineral stress, with special emphasis on rhizosphere processes. The research is based on complementarity of laboratory and field experiments, and includes: a) mechanisms of P acquisition on different P-deficient soils (acid and calcareous); b) mechanisms of uptake, translocation and compartmentation of microelements under deficiency and toxicity; c) physiological role of Si in alleviating minerals stress (nutrient deficiency and metal toxicity) in plants; d) effects of soil amendments (organic fertilizers, physiologically acid/alkaline mineral N fertilizers) on mobility and acquisition of mineral elements in the rhizosphere; and e) the role of mineral stress in modifying the succession process of spontaneous vegetation on anthropogenically degraded soils.