VIEW ARTICLE

Effect of Nitrogenous Fertilizer on Biochemical Processes that Could Affect Lesion Size of Rice Blast. N. Matsuyama, Staff member of the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Tokyo, Japan; A. E. Dimond, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven 06504. Phytopathology 63:1202-1203. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-63-1202.

It has been shown previously that nitrogenous fertilizers supplied to rice plants increase the size of rice blast lesions produced by the invasion of leaves by Pyricularia oryzae. Because the size of these lesions, particularly the width, may be limited by phenols and lignins synthesized by the invaded leaf, the relative activities of the key enzymes of lignin synthesis were examined. In the plants that were enriched with nitrogenous fertilizer, the activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase decreased 32%, and that of tyrosine ammonia-lyase by 22%. Lignin content decreased 53% in leaves that developed after the plants received nitrogen fertilizer.