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Re: Duckweek and nitrogen fixation
- To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com (Aquatic-Plants)
- Subject: Re: Duckweek and nitrogen fixation
- From: "David W. Webb" <dwebb at ti_com>
- Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 15:56:36 -0600
- Conversation-Id: <BMSMTP87919872327a0206807 at dsks52_itg.ti.com>
>Date: Sat, 8 Nov 1997 15:56:34 -0500
>From: Bain Chin <bchin at MIT_EDU>
>
>No. Plants do not fix atmospheric nitrogen. They rely on bacteria to do
>that job. Nitrogen that is consumable to plants are in the forms of
>ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Atmospheric nitrogen is too inert for
plants,
>that is why farmers need to add fertilizer containing nitrogen - ammonium
>nitrate.
Some plants are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen. They develop nodules on
their roots that contain the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in an anaerobic
state. The Bluebonnet (State flower of Texas) is one among many species of
nitrogen-fixing plants.
The only aquatic plant that is believed to fix nitrogen is cyanobacteria
(blue-green algae). The ability of cyanobacteria to fix nitrogen has not
been shown in a laboratory environment, but it does tend to flourish in an
environment with low concentrations of organic nitrogen (ammonium,
nitrites, and nitrates).
--
David W. Webb Texas Instruments
(972) 575-3443 (voice) http://www.dallas.net/~dwebb
(214) 581-2380 (pager) 2145812380 at alphapage_airtouch.com