Effect of shading on zinc deficiency symptoms in rice plant

Under Zn deficiency, some major deficiency symptoms were observed on rice plants, i.e., reduction of young leaf elongation and development of necrosis on the expanded leaves. To clarify the former phenomena, the physiological role of Zn was studied from the standpoint of protein synthesis (Kitagishi and Obata 1986; Obata et al. 1994, 1996) and metabolism of auxin (Takaki and Arita 1986; Domingo et al. 1992). In contrast, the direct cause of the latter phenomenon has not yet been studied.