Soybeans grown in pots were sprayed with cerium nitrate twice during growth at up to 50 mg/L, and growth, grain quality, tissue cerium and genome-wide DNA methylation were analyzed. Low-dose cerium stimulated growth while the highest dose inhibited it, and most of the sprayed cerium stayed in the leaves, with little moving to roots or grain.
Key numbers
- Background cerium in the pot soil (meadow brown soil, Shenyang): 41.22 plus or minus 3.65 mg/kg (Methods, p. 3).
- Relative to leaf concentrations, cerium in roots was 0.3% to 2.4% and in grains less than 5% (Results, p. 6; tissue values shown in Figure 1h only).
- 5 mg/L cerium increased hundred-grain weight, crude protein and lipid content; 50 mg/L inhibited growth (abstract; p. 6).
Methods (brief)
Cerium nitrate hexahydrate solutions were sprayed at the seedling and flowering stages; leaves, roots and seeds were dried and analyzed by ICP-MS; whole-genome bisulfite sequencing and qRT-PCR examined DNA methylation and gene expression.
Evidence fitness
Supports a statement that foliar-applied cerium moved little into soybean grain under these pot conditions. Grain concentrations are reported only as a ratio to leaves and in a figure, so the paper cannot supply a grain cerium value.
Limitations
Pot experiment in one soil; grain cerium not tabulated; two foliar applications only.
Related evidence
Update history
No substantive edit history is available in this build. The full commit record is available in git.