Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium Influence Rice Growth and Development by Regulating the Efficiency of Energy Production

Abstract Background: Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are important essential nutrients for plant growth and development, but how they regulate plant energy status remains unclear. Results: In this study, we grew Nipponbare rice (Oryza sativa) seedlings in a growth chamber for 20 d at 30/24 ℃ (day/night) under natural sunlight conditions with different nutrient regimes. N appeared to play the most important role in plant growth and development, followed by P and K. The highest nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) content, dry weight, net photosynthetic rate (PN), ATP content, and NADH dehydrogenase, cytochrome oxidase, and ATPase activities were found in the plants that received sufficient N, P, and K. The lowest values of these parameters were measured in the N-deficient plants. Higher dry matter accumulation was observed in the −K treatment than in the −P treatment, but there was no difference in the ratio of respiration rate to photosynthetic rate between these two treatments, suggesting that differences in energy production efficiency may have accounted for this result. This hypothesis was confirmed by higher ATP contents and activities of NADH dehydrogenase, cytochrome oxidase, and ATPase in the K-deficient plants than in the P-deficient plants. Conclusion: We inferred that N, P, and K controlled rice plant growth and development by regulating the efficiency of energy production.