Diurnal nitrate uptake in young tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) plants: test of a feedback-based model

Abstract

assimilation. While the purely photosynthetic assumption is convenient, a more realistic metabolism sub-A simple model is proposed to describe diurnal net model is needed. nitrate uptake rate patterns observed experimentally on young plants grown under constant non-limiting Key words: Light/dark cycles, day, night, water content, nutrition. It rests on two hypotheses: net uptake rate nitrogen, hydroponic. is under negative feedback control by internal plant nitrate content, and nitrogen metabolism occurs only during the light period. The model parameters were