Nickel as a micronutrient element for plants.

The detrimental effects of excessive Ni on plant growth have been well known for many years. More recent evidence indicates that Ni is required in small amounts for normal plant growth and development. Ni is an essential component of urease in plants and microorganisms. A deficiency of Ni in plants is reported to result in necrotic lesions in leaves in response to toxic accumulations of urea. Urease plays an essential role in mobilization of nitrogenous compounds in plants, a process that is especially important during seed germination and fruit formation when protein reserves are degraded into amino acids. Arginine, an abundant amino acid in plants, when degraded produces urea as a product and urease is needed for urea utilization. Theories of urea formation during allantoin degradation in Glycine max have been recently refuted. In G. max ureides apparently are metabolized via an amidohydrolase reaction with subsequent degradation of ureidoglycine, yielding glyoxylate, NH+4 and CO2. No evidence is available for the formation of urea in this pathway. Nitrogen-fixing symbionts, such as Rhizobium and Bradyrhizobium, contain two known Ni enzymes: urease and hydrogenase. Optimum growth of nodulated legumes and actinorhizal plants may depend on an adequate supply of Ni to meet the requirements of the Ni-requiring enzymes in host plants and endophytes. The seeds of severely Ni-deficient Hordeum are completely inviable, thus providing conclusive evidence for the essentiality of Ni for this species. The evidence indicates that Ni must be added to the list of micronutrient elements generally required by plants.