Role of Ether Soluble Organic Acids in the Cationanion Balance in Plants.

Factors that influence salt absorption by plants have long been a subject of study. Only recently, however, (3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 16, 20, 23), have the effects of certain metabolic processes in the plant been recognized as intimately connected with salt absorption and accumulation. The present investigation has been concerned with the cation-anion balance in several species of crop plants with special reference to the role of ether soluble organic acids. Prior to the work of PUCHER, VICKERY, and WAKEMAN (13, 14, 15), on the quantitative determination of organic acids in plant material, lack of accurate methods had seriously curtailed investigation along these lines. A study has been made of the selective capacity of the various species with respect to inorganic ions; of the quantity and kinds of organic acids in the different species grown in similar culture medium; and of the correlation between inorganic cations and ether soluble organic acids in the different species as a group.