Exogenous catechin enhances nitrogen use efficiency in rice by optimizing ammonium nitrogen transport and assimilation

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ID: 320804
2026
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Abstract
Low nitrogen (N) use efficiency (NUE) constrains sustainable rice production. Although flavonoids have been implicated in improving crop NUE, the direct physiological mechanisms underlying catechin-induced NUE enhancement remain elusive. Here, hydroponic experiments were conducted with high-NUE and low-NUE varieties to analyze the effects of catechin on rice growth, NUE, N content, key enzyme activities involved in N pathways, and the expression of genes related to N transport and assimilation. A concentration screening experiment (0, 5, 10, 20, and 50 mg l-1 catechin) identified 20 mg l-1 as the optimal concentration for maximizing growth performance and NUE improvement across the two rice varieties and three N levels tested. Catechin exhibited a dual regulatory mechanism by simultaneously enhancing ammonium transport capacity and N assimilation efficiency. Specifically, it up-regulated the expression of an ammonium transporter gene (OsAMT1;2) and boosted the activities of key N assimilation enzymes including nitrate reductase, glutamine synthetase, and glutamate synthase. These coordinated responses resulted in a 15.9% elevation in free amino acid content and 28.5% improvement in NUE. Notably, a low-NUE variety demonstrated greater responsiveness to catechin under low-N levels, while a high-NUE variety exhibited a stronger response under medium-N levels. The structural equation modeling revealed that enhanced ammonium transport served as the primary driver of NUE improvement. These findings establish that catechin systemically optimizes N metabolism by synchronizing transport capacity with assimilation efficiency, providing a novel phyto-stimulant strategy particularly effective for improving N-scavenging capacity in low-NUE varieties under N-limited conditions.
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Authors Siyao Du, Yating Fang, T F Li, J L Xu, Y ZHANG, Zhifeng Lu, Rihuan Cong, X Y Li, Tao Ren, Jianwei Lü
Journal Journal of experimental botany
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/jxb/erag280
URL
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