Effect of N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide on urea metabolism and the assimilation of ammonium by Triticum aestivum L. Ekhiñe Artola, Saioa Cruchaga, Idoia Ariz, Jose Fernando Moran, María Garnica, Fabrice Houdusse, José María Garcia Mina, Ignacio Irigoyen, Berta Lasa, Pedro María Aparicio-Tejo Ekhiñe Artola, Saioa Cruchaga, Idoia Ariz, Jose Fernando Moran, Berta Lasa, Pedro María Aparicio-Tejo Institute of Agri-Biotechnology, Public University of Navarre- CSIC-Government of Navarre, Campus de Arrosadía s/n, E-31006 Pamplona, Navarra, Spain. Ignacio Irigoyen Department of Agrarian Production. Public University of Navarre. Pamplona E31006, Navarre, Spain. María Garnica, Fabrice Houdusse, José María Garcia Mina Departament of R + D, TimacAgro-Grupo Roullier, Polígono ArazuriOrcoyen, Calle C, Nº32, E-31160, Orcoyen, Navarre, Spain. Correspondence: Pedro M. Aparicio Tejo Instituto de Agrobiotecnología. Universidad Pública de Navarra-CSIC-Gobierno de Navarra. Campus de Arrosadía E-31006 Pamplona, Navarra.Spain Phone: +34 948169122 Fax: +34 948 232191 Email: pmapariciotejo@unavarra.es http://www.agrobiotecnologia.es/en/grp-fisiologiaMolecular/index.htm 1 Effect of N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide on urea metabolism and the assimilation of ammonium by Triticum aestivum L. Abstract The use of urea as an N fertilizer has increased to such an extent that it is now the most widely used fertilizer in the world. However, N losses as a result of ammonia volatilization lead to a decrease in its efficiency, therefore different methods have been developed over the years to reduce these losses. One of the most recent involves the use of urea combined with urease inhibitors, such as N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT), in an attempt to delay the hydrolysis of urea in the soil. The aim of this study is to perform an in-depth analysis of the effects that NBPT use has on plant growth and N metabolism. Wheat plants were cultivated in a greenhouse experiment lasting four weeks and fertilized with urea and NBPT at different concentrations (0, 0.012, 0.062, 0.125%). Each treatment was replicated six times. A non-fertilized control was also cultivated. Several parameters related with N metabolism were analysed at harvest. NBPT use was found to have visible effects, such as a transitory yellowing of the leaf tips, at the end of the first week of treatment. At a metabolic level, plants treated with the inhibitor were found to have more urea in their tissues and a lower amino acid content, lower glutamine synthetase activity, and lower urease and glutamine synthetase content at the end of the study period, whereas their urease activity seemed to have recovered by this stage. 2 Keywords: ammonium metabolism; N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT); urea; urease; urease inhibitor; wheat. Introduction The widespread contamination arising from agricultural activities is currently one of the most serious environmental problems in many European countries. Indeed, the environmental problems associated with the use of N fertilizers have led to a compromise between achieving increased productivity and a quality harvest, and limiting their environmental impact. “Sustainable” agricultural production requires an in-depth understanding of the processes associated with the transformation of N in the soil and the different ways in which it is absorbed by the plant, and how these factors affect the plant's growth and development. The development of new fertilizers and new methods of application, especially the use of products that can inhibit the activity of those microorganisms associated with transformation of the N present in the soil, is also important. The use of urea as an N fertilizer has increased to such an extent in the last 2530 years that nowadays it is the most widely used form of N fertilizer in the world (IFA 2009). The main advantages of this compound are its high N content (46%), its relatively low cost, and its ease of use. However, the efficiency of urea is markedly reduced due to N losses caused by, amongst other factors, ammonia volatilization, which can result in the loss of more than 50% of the N applied (Terman 1979; Bremner 1995). This occurs when urea is hydrolyzed by the enzyme urease released by microorganisms in the soil to form ammonium, 3 which, depending on the pH of the soil, may subsequently be transformed into highly volatile ammonia (Bremner and Krogmeier 1988). Besides adapting normal agricultural practices for the incorporation of urea into the soil, for example irrigation or by adjusting the dose and application time, several strategies have been developed to reduce the losses resulting from ammonia volatilization. Slow-release fertilizers, where the granules are coated with relatively insoluble substances in order to delay the release of urea, and the application of urease inhibitors, are the most widely used methods in this respect (Trenkel 1997). Urease inhibitors, which have been the subject of numerous studies in the last few years, interact with the active site of the enzyme or a key functional group in the molecule to produce a change in the structure of the active sites, thereby delaying urea hydrolysis and, in turn, promoting the formation of ammonium (Watson 2000). However, a compound has to meet certain requirements, such as lack of toxicity to the plant or the environment, stability, efficiency at low concentrations, compatibility with urea and a price that makes its use economically viable, to be considered a good candidate as an agricultural urease inhibitor. Indeed, although numerous substances have been evaluated, very few have been found to be really effective. The compounds tested include structural analogs of urea, phosphoramides and thiophosphoramides, and hydroquinones and benzoquinones. N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) is currently considered to be the most effective means of controlling urea hydrolysis (Bremner and Chai 1986) as its oxidised form, NBPTO, has a higher urease inhibition capacity (Creason et al. 1990). Indeed, the majority of both laboratory and field studies have been carried out 4 with NBPT. This compound has been studied in different species, mainly cereals (Bremner 1995; Malhi et al. 2001; O´Donovan et al. 2008), and has proved to be effective in reducing ammonia volatilization and improving agricultural yields (Bremner and Krogmeier 1988). In fact, it was the first urease inhibitor to be marketed, under the commercial name Agrotain®. Plants grown with urea and NBPT have been found to have a higher urea content in their tissues (Watson and Miller 1996). This accumulation of urea could be the cause of the phytotoxicity observed in plants grown with urea and urease inhibitor (Krogmeier et al. 1989), and could therefore be a major disadvantage of the use of this product. The majority of this urea is absorbed by the roots, although some of it is endogenous, originating from the different N metabolism processes in the plant. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have yet focussed on the influence of NBPT absorption by plant roots and how this absorption could inhibit plant urease and cause physiological changes in N metabolism. The aim of the present study was therefore to evaluate the effectiveness of NBPT at lower doses than those recommended commercially and to study its effect on the plant's N metabolism. Materials and methods Growth conditions Wheat seeds (Triticum aestivum L.) cv. “Fiel” were sown in 2 L pots containing soil and perlite (1:1 v/v). The soil, with an alkaline pH (8.2), 1.5% organic matter content and sandy loam texture, was obtained from Mendigorría (Navarre, Spain) and was dried in air and sieved beforehand through a 2 mm mesh. A urea solution (180 kg N ha-1) was applied to all pots along with different 5 concentrations of N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (0%, 0.012%, 0.062% and 0.125% (w/w)). Additional phosphorous, potassium and magnesium were also applied to the plants at doses of 100, 200 and 50 kg ha-1, respectively. Control pots with no fertilizer applied were also prepared. Each treatment was replicated six times. All 30 pots were placed in a greenhouse, where they remained until the end of the experiment. The plants were irrigated with distilled water up to field capacity during the four weeks that the study lasted whilst ensuring that no drainage occurred. Plant shoot growth and internal contents The chlorophyll content (SPAD) and dry weight of plant shoots were measured by placing the leaves in a hot air oven for 48 h at a temperature of 75 ºC. The urea content was determined using a modification of the method described by Witte et al. (2002), and using the colour reagent described by Kyllingsbaek (1975). To avoid possible interference by other molecules in the urea measurement, the samples were previously passed through anion-cation exchange columns (Water Oasis MCX and MAX) to remove any ions that could interfere with the analysis. Extraction of the soluble ions from the tissues was performed in water at 80 ºC. The ammonium concentration was determined using the supernatant obtained after centrifugation, using the phenolhypochlorite method (Solorzano 1969). Amino acids were extracted into 80% ethanol at 80 ºC. After evaporation of the ethanol, they were re-suspended in water and the amino acid content determined by the ninhydrin reaction using glycine as a standard (Yemm and Cocking 1955). The soluble protein was measured as described by Bradford (1976). 6 Enzyme activities Urease activity in the plant tissues was determined by measuring the amount of ammonium formed during the hydrolysis of urea. For the extraction, the sample was ground in liquid N2 and homogenized using 50 mM phosphate buffer at pH 7.5 containing 50 mM NaCl, 1.5% PVPP (w/v), 1 mM EDTA, 2 mM DTT and 4 mM PMSF. After centrifuging the extracts (20 min, 13000g), the supernatants were purified through columns (Sephadex G25-fine). The reaction was started by the addition of 5 M urea, and was carried out at 50 ºC. Aliquots were taken at 0, 20, 40 and 60 minutes, and the ammonium generated was measured using the phenol-hypochlorite method. The urease activity was calculated from the standard curve obtained from the ammonium concentrations over time. Glutamine synthetase (GS) was determined following the method of O’Neal and Joy (1973). Urease and glutamine synthetase (GS) contents Urease and GS contents were assessed by Western blotting. The previously described protein extracts used for the determination of the enzyme activities were boiled for 2 minutes after adding the sample loading buffer described by Laemmli (1970). SDS gel electrophoresis was then performed in discontinuous gels, with 10% (w/v) polyacrylamide in the resolving gel and 4.6% in the concentrator, at 100 mV. Molecular markers were also loaded (Biorad 1610305) in order to estimate the size of the polypeptides. After separation, the proteins were transferred according to the method described by Towbin et al. (1979), but using polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membranes. The membranes were then blocked by submerging them in a solution containing non-fat dry milk 7 (5%) after repeated washing with TTBS (45 minutes). Monospecific polyclonal antibodies were used to estimate the urease and GS contents. For the GS antibody, a synthetic peptide against a conserved zone of the GS gene was used to immunize rabbits, as described by Cruz et al. (submitted for publication). For the urease antibody, a purified urease from jack bean (SigmaAldrich) was used to immunize rabbits. The monospecific fraction (IgG) of the serum was isolated in a column containing the antigen for both antibodies. Incubation with the corresponding primary antibody at a 1:1000 dilution for the rabbit anti-jack bean urease IgG, and 1:2000 for the rabbit anti-GS IgG, was carried out overnight in TTBS at 4 ºC. Incubation with the secondary antibody was performed for 1 h using a goat anti-rabbit antibody conjugated with horseradish peroxidase. Finally, detection was accomplished using a commercial chemoluminescence kit (Amersham ECL Plus, AmershamPharmacia). Statistical analysis The data obtained from the different analyses were subjected to variance analysis (ANOVA), and the least significant difference (LSD) test was applied. Different letters were assigned for significant inter-treatment differences detected using the F-Fisher test. Regression analyses were performed between NBPT (%) applied and different plant parameters. The control treatment was excluded from these regressions. The SPSS statistics program was used to perform all calculations, and a result was considered significant at a significance level of 95%. 8 Results Plant Growth Dry weight showed a tendency to increase with NBPT inhibitor dose, with this increase being significant at highest NBPT inhibitor dose (Fig. 1). The SPAD values, which were used as indicators of the chlorophyll content, showed no significant differences between plants grown with the different concentrations of NBPT applied and those grown with urea but without NBPT. The non-fertilized control plants showed visual symptoms of chlorosis, as confirmed by their low SPAD values (Fig. 2). Seven days after application of the treatments, a slight yellowing of the leaf tips, which increased in the following days, could be seen in those plants treated with NBPT. The affected area increased with increasing inhibitor dose (not shown), although this effect was only transitory since new leaves showed no yellowing. Indeed, this phenomenon was hardly noticeable at the end of the study. The yellow leaf tips were sampled separately in the treatment with highest NBPT dose to determine their urea and ammonium contents. Internal contents of urea, ammonium, amino acids and soluble protein The urea content in the leaves of the plants fertilized with urea increased with amount of inhibitor applied in a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 3). No significant differences were observed between the treatments with 0.012% and 0.062% NBPT. The urea content of plants treated with urea but no inhibitor was similar to that in the control plants. Those leaf tips that showed chlorosis had a urea content of 1600 μmol g-1 DW, about 2000 times higher than the leaves of plants fertilized with urea but no NBPT. In contrast, the plants fertilized with urea but 9 no NBPT had the highest ammonium content, whereas the control plants had the lowest levels of NH4+ in the leaf (Fig. 4). The NH4+ content in those leaf tips that showed chlorosis was slightly higher than in the plant leaves treated with urea but no inhibitor (18.7 mol g-1 DW). The amino acid content of the nonfertilized control plants was lower than in the rest of the treatments. The plants that received medium to high doses of inhibitor (0.062% and 0.125% NBPT) had significantly lower leaf amino acid contents than those that received the lowest dose or were fertilized with urea only (Fig. 5). Differences in the leaf soluble protein content were also observed (Fig. 6). Thus, the plants treated with an NBPT dose of 0.012% had the highest protein values, with these values decreasing as the inhibitor dose increased. The protein content of the plants fertilized with urea only was similar to that for the plants that received the highest dose of inhibitor. A four- to fivefold decrease in protein content was observed in the leaves of non-fertilized control plants. Enzyme activities and content The control plants had the highest urease activity values (Fig. 7). Urea appears to inhibit urease activity in leaves, and the NBPT inhibitor induced no significant changes in urease activity. Leaf glutamine synthetase (GS) activity was highest in the control plants. For the plants fertilized with urea, only the highest doses of NBPT (0.062 and 0.125 %) had an effect on the GS activity (Fig. 8). The urease content, as estimated by Western blotting with a novel specific antijack bean urease antibody, was found to be higher in control plants and in those treated with urea and low NBPT doses. Plants treated with the highest inhibitor doses showed the lowest urease contents of all treatments (Fig. 9A). As for the 10 pattern of GS isoenzyme expression, two isoforms of leaf GS were detected: a chloroplastic (GS2) isoform with a molecular weight of 45 kDa, and a cytosolic (GS1) isoform with a slightly lower molecular weight of 40 kDa. The band corresponding to the chloroplastic isoform was less intense in the leaves of the control plants. Plants treated with urea and 0.125% NBPT showed a lower intensity of the cytosolic isoform. The GS1 and GS2 levels were similar in the other treatments. Regression analysis Regression analyses were performed using the data for all plants grown with different NBPT doses to produce different curves. Both non-linear and linear adjustments were found to give similar results, therefore all data were treated with a linear regression analysis. The linear regression parameters can be found in Table 1. The P-value is statistically significant for the parameters dry weight, urea content, amino acid content and GS activity. These parameters also presented the highest r2. The response to increases of NBPT dose was positive for dry weight and urea content and negative for amino acid content and GS activity. Discussion Effects on the biomass of wheat plants grown with urea in conjunction with the urease inhibitor NBPT were only evident at the inhibitor dose recommended by the manufacturer (0.125% w/w). Similar results were observed by Watson and Miller (1996) in rye grass, although the growth period in this case was 10 days and the doses used were 0.01%, 0.1% and 0.5% (w/w). The urea applied with 11 no inhibitor seems mainly to be hydrolyzed by urease in the soil in a process that generates endogenous levels of urea in those plants fertilized with urea similar to those in the control plants (non-fertilized plants). The N deficiency is demonstrated by leaf chlorosis and the slower plant growth, as well as by other effects typically observed in the control plants. The soil employed in the experiment exhibited a low N content that was insufficient to enable plants to develop normally. This N deficiency meant that the plant metabolism was affected, as observed by the lower amino acid and protein contents in the nonfertilized plants. It should be pointed out that the activity and content of GS (particularly cytosolic GS1), a key enzyme in the assimilation of N, were highly induced in nonfertilized control plants, possibly with the aim of assimilating this element with the highest possible efficiency if its availability in soil increased. The urease activity in the control plants was also significantly higher than in the rest of the treatments. The urease protein content was similar to that in other treatments, except at the highest inhibitor dose. Furthermore, no contribution from urea was observed for the control plants, hence the urease activity in this case could arise from the remobilization of N-compounds, as occurs during the seed germination process (Zonia et al. 1995). At the end of the study (4 weeks), NBPT showed no obvious effects on urease activity. Several authors have described a temporary urease inhibition lasting for approximately 10 days after the application of NBPT (Watson and Miller, 1996), although this period varied according to the concentrations of NBPT used. However, Krogmeier et al. (1989) reported no urease inhibition in wheat and sorghum 21 days after applying the inhibitor. These authors attributed this effect to recovery of the 12 urease or the degradation of NBPT during those three weeks. In our study, temporary urease inhibition may well explain the transient yellowing of the leaf tips at day 7 after treatment, with the plants again being capable of forming healthy leaves soon after. In previous studies performed by our group (Cruchaga et al. 2006), yellowing of the edges of the leaves was observed in peas treated with NBPT although, as in the present study, the new leaves developed normally. Watson and Miller (1996) also noted a temporary yellowing in their study with rye grass. Although urease activity inhibition was not observed at the end of the study, urease content seemed to be affected only by the highest concentration of NBPT. The higher urea concentration in plants treated with NBPT led us to consider that both leaf and soil urease were inhibited during the initial days of the study, thereby allowing more urea to accumulate in the plant. This may explain the dose-dependent effect of NBPT on urea content observed by Watson and Miller (1996) and Krogmeier et al. (1989). Our results seem to indicate that this yellowing is not due to ammonium, as suggested by other authors (Bremner et al. 1989), but to the accumulation of urea, as described by Krogmeier et al. (1989), since the NH4+ concentration in the leaf tips during the yellowing was similar to that in the non-yellow leaves of plants treated with urea only. A possible cause of this symptom could be the accumulation of toxic levels of urea in the leaf tips. All plants were, however, able to recover and form new healthy leaves. Lower ammonium contents were expected in the plants treated with NBPT since urea degradation either did not take place or occurred to a lesser extent. After one month of growth, leaf urease was no longer inhibited and the ammonium concentration was similar in all NBPT treatments, although lower than in plants treated with urea only. In 13 contrast, GS activity seems to be affected negatively by NBPT, which could reduce the amino acid content by increasing the inhibitor dose. Taken together, these results seem to indicate that one month after applying NBPT, the effects of this compound on the activity of urease have either been reversed or compensated, leaving the accumulation of urea and the decrease of GS activity, amino acid content and urease and GS2 content in leaves at the highest NBPT concentration as the only signs of the initial urease inhibition. On the other hand, the soluble protein content is a parameter that initially responds to N availability, which shows that treatment with 0.012% and 0.062% NBPT improves the N availability. In these cases, the endogenous levels of urea are higher than for the control treatment but lower than for the 0.125% NBPT treatment, whereas the urease content for the 0.125% NBPT treatment is lower than for the other treatments, thus suggesting that it could temporarily affect N availability and hence protein content. Thus, when NBPT is applied to the soil, particularly at high doses, it is absorbed by the plant and modifies its metabolism, although the effects are only transitory. Future experiments will therefore be required to determine the agricultural advantages of fractionated application of both fertilizer and inhibitor at doses lower than those recommended by the manufacturer. References Bradford MM (1976) A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitative determination of micrograme quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding. Anal Biochem 72:248-254. Bremner JM (1995) Recent research on problems in the use of urea as a nitrogen fertilizer. Fertilizer Res 42:321-329. 14 Bremner JM, Chai HS (1986) Evaluation of N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide for retardation of urea hydrolysis in soil. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 17:337-351. Bremner JM, Krogmeier MJ (1988) Elimination of the adverse effects of urea fertilizer on seed germination, seedling growth, and early plant growth in soil. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:4601-4604. Creason GL, Schmitt MR, Douglass EA, Hendrickson LL (1990) Urease inhibitory activity associated with N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide is due to formation of its oxon analog. Soil Biol Biochem 22:209-211. Cruchaga S, Artola E, Ariz I, Domínguez-Valdivia MD, Irigoyen I, Moran JF, Lamsfus C, Aparicio-Tejo PM (2006) Efecto del NBPT sobre el metabolismo de guisante crecido con distintas fuentes nitrogenadas (nitrato, urea, amonio). In: Lamsfus C et al. (ed) Nutrición Mineral: Aspectos Fisiológicos y Ambientales, 1st edn. UPNA, Pamplona, Spain, pp 717-723. IFA (2009) International Fertilizer Industry Association. Available via http://www.fertilizer.org/ifa/ifadata/search Krogmeier MJ, McCarty GW, Bremner JM (1989) Potential phytotoxicity associated with the use of soil urease inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86:1110-1112. Kyllingsbæk A (1975) Extraction and colorimetric determination of urea in plants. Acta Agric Scand 25:109-112. Laemmli UK (1970) Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature 227:680-685. 15 Malhi SS, Grant CA, Johnston AM, Gill KS (2001) Nitrogen fertilization management for no-till cereal production in the Canadian Great Plains: a review. Soil Till Res 60:101-122. O'Donovan JT, Clayton GW, Grant CA et al. (2008) Effect of nitrogen rate and placement and seeding rate on barley productivity and wild oat fecundity in a zero tillage system. Crop Sci 48:1569-1574. O’Neal D, Joy KW (1973) Glutamine synthetase of pea leaves. I. Purification, stabilisation and pH optima. Arch Biochem Biophys 159:113-122. Solorzano L (1969) Determination of ammonia in natural waters by the phenolhypochlorite method. Limn Ocean 14:799-801. Terman GL (1979) Volatilization losses of nitrogen as ammonia for surfaceapplied fertilizers, organic amendments, and crop residues. Adv Agron 31:189-223. Towbin H, Staehelin T, Gordon J (1979). Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: Procedure and some applications (ribosomal proteins/radioimmunoassay/fluorescent antibody assay/peroxidase-conjugated antibody/ autoradiography). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 76:4350-4354. Trenkel ME (1997) Improving fertilizer use efficiency. Controlled-release and stabilized fertilizers in agriculture. International Fertilizer Industry Association, Paris. Watson CJ (2000) Urease activity and inhibition-principle and practice. Proceedings 454 of The International Fertiliser Society, York, UK, 40 pp. 16 Watson CJ, Miller H (1996): Short-term effects of urea amended with the urease inhibitor N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide on perennial grass. Plant Soil 184:33-45. Witte CP, Tiller SA, Taylor MA, Davies HV (2002) Leaf urea metabolism in potato. urease activity profile and patterns of recovery and distribution of 15N after foliar urea application in wild-type and urease-antisense transgenics. Plant Physiol 128:1129-1136. Yemm EW, Cocking EC (1955) The determination of amino acids with ninhydrin. Analyst 80:209-214. 17 0,4 a ab 0.012% 0.062% -1 (g plant ) 0,3 Dry weight ab b 0,2 c 0,1 0,0 control 0% 0.125% UREA + NBPT Fig. 1 Dry weight of wheat plants grown for four weeks without (control treatment) and with N-fertilization of 180 kg urea-N ha-1 at four NBPT concentrations (0%, 0.012%, 0.062% and 0.125% w/w with respect to urea). Values are means (n=6) ± SE. 50 a a a a 0% 0.012% 0.062% 0.125% SPAD 40 30 b 20 10 0 control UREA + NBPT Fig. 2 The SPAD values of wheat plants grown for four weeks without (control treatment) and with N-fertilization of 180 kg urea-N ha-1 at four NBPT concentrations (0%, 0.012%, 0.062% and 0.125% w/w with respect to urea). Values are means (n=6) ± SE. 18 a b 2 b -1 (µmol g DW) Urea content 3 1 c c control 0% 0 0.012% 0.062% 0.125% UREA + NBPT Fig. 3 Leaf urea content of wheat plants grown for four weeks without (control treatment) and with N-fertilization of 180 kg urea-N ha-1 at four NBPT concentrations (0%, 0.012%, 0.062% and 0.125% w/w with respect to urea). Values are means (n=6) ± SE. (µmol g DW) a -1 Ammonium content 20 15 b 10 b b c 5 0 control 0% 0.012% 0.062% 0.125% UREA + NBPT Fig. 4 Leaves ammonium content of wheat plants grown for four weeks without (control treatment) and with N-fertilization of 180 kg urea-N ha-1 at four NBPT concentrations (0%, 0.012%, 0.062% and 0.125% w/w with respect to urea). Values are means (n=6) ± SE. 19 a a 100 b 80 b -1 (µmol gly g DW) Free amino acid content 120 60 c 40 20 0 control 0% 0.012% 0.062% 0.125% UREA + NBPT Fig. 5 Total amino acid content in leaves of wheat plants grown for four weeks without (control treatment) and with N-fertilization of 180 kg urea-N ha-1 at four NBPT concentrations (0%, 0.012%, 0.062% and 0.125% w/w with respect to urea). Values are means (n=6) ± SE. 200 a b c c 120 -1 (mg g DW) Protein content 160 80 40 d 0 control 0% 0.012% 0.062% 0.125% UREA + NBPT Fig. 6: Leaf protein content of wheat plants grown for four weeks without (control treatment) and with N-fertilization of 180 kg urea-N ha-1 at four NBPT concentrations (0%, 0.012%, 0.062% and 0.125% w/w with respect to urea). Values are means (n=6) ± SE. 20 a 3 -1 (mU min mg protein) 2 -1 Urease activity 4 1 b b 0% 0.012% b b 0 control 0.062% 0.125% UREA + NBPT Fig. 7 Urease activity of wheat plants grown for four weeks without (control treatment) and with N-fertilization of 180 kg urea-N ha-1 at four NBPT concentrations (0%, 0.012%, 0.062% and 0.125% w/w with respect to urea). -1 -1 ( mol GHM min mg protein) GS activity Values are means (n=6) ± SE. 0,30 0,25 a 0,20 0,15 b 0,10 bc c d 0,05 0,00 control 0% 0.012% 0.062% 0.125% UREA + NBPT Fig. 8 Glutamine synthetase (GS) activity of wheat plants grown for four weeks without (control treatment) and with N-fertilization of 180 kg urea-N ha-1 at four NBPT concentrations (0%, 0.012%, 0.062% and 0.125% w/w with respect to urea). Values are means (n=6) ± SE. 21 Urea + NBPT Control 0% 0.012% 0.062% 0.125% A 90 kDa (Urease) B 45 kDa (GS2) 40 kDa (GS1) Fig. 9 Urease (A) and glutamine synthetase (B) content of wheat plants grown for four weeks without (control treatment) and with N-fertilization of 180 kg ureaN ha-1 at four NBPT concentrations (0%, 0.012%, 0.062% and 0.125% w/w with respect to urea). This Western blot was repeated 6 times, with similar values being obtained on each occasion. Table 1 Values of the coefficients a and b in the linear regression equation y = a x + b (y = plant parameter; x= percentage of NBPT). Standard Errors of the coefficients, regression coefficient (r2) and P-value of the adjustment are presented (n = 24). Plant parameters Dry weight SPAD Urea content Ammonium content Aa content Soluble protein Urease activity GS activity a 0.3 4.8 11.1 -10.6 -278.1 -84.3 -1.7 -0.4 Standard error of a 0.14 6.66 1.87 8.59 63.30 63.67 1.11 0.04 b 0.3 40.7 1.1 13.5 98.6 131.5 0.7 0.1 Standard error of b 0.01 0.47 0.13 0.58 4.44 4.47 0.08 0.00 r2 0.22 0.02 0.61 0.07 0.47 0.07 0.12 0.81 P-value 0.02 0.48 0.00 0.23 0.00 0.20 0.15 0.00 22 23