DIRECT ABSORPTION OF ORGANIC PHOSPHATE BY RICE AND JUTE PLANTS

Appreciable amounts of organic phosphate from calcium glycerophosphate, lecithin, sodium phytate and inosine-5-monophosphate were absorbed directly by rice plants and that from calcium glycerophosphate and lecithin by jute plants under sterile and non-sterile conditions. The plants absorbed phosphate both in organic and inorganic combinations and the deficit of one form in the media made the other 'more available' to the roots. Sterilization of jute roots with 0.1% HgCl2 stopped the absorption of phosphate upto 4 days while the treatment mixture of C2H5OH and H2O2 indicates inhibitory effects on roots of neither plants. © 1979 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.