Phytic acid in green leaves of herbaceous plants—temporal variation in situ and response to different nitrogen/phosphorus fertilizing regimes

Phytic acid is the major storage compound for phosphorus (P) in plants. While accounting for up to 90 % in many seeds, usually only <10 % of total P is found in phytic acid in green leaves. This study follows up on the findings of a recent review of the occurrence of phytic acid in green leaves which revealed that (i) the current knowledge of phytic acid in leaves is mostly based on data from (fertilized) crop plants and (ii) the proportion of total P in phytic acid seems to decrease with improved P status in leaves in contrast to an increase in seeds and fruit. We studied five species of wild herbaceous plants in the field and under controlled conditions. Foliar P concentrations were much lower than those of the crops of earlier studies, but the proportion of P in phytic acid was similar, with little variation during the observation period. Both the field data and the experimental data showed a statistically indistinguishable negative correlation of phytic acid-P/total P and total P. In contrast to our expectation, this negative relationship was not related to differences in relative growth rates. We conclude that (i) our data of phytic acid concentrations in leaves of wild plants are in line with earlier observations on crops, and (ii) the trend towards lower proportions of phytic acid-P with increasing P status is probably a general phenomenon. Currently lacking a convincing explanation for the second observation, the role of phytic acid in foliar P metabolism is still unclear.