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Assessment of Carbon Allocation with Stable Carbon Isotope Labeling

USDA-ARS, 920 Valley Road, Reno, NV 89512
Dep. of Range Science, Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX 77843
USDA-ARS, 920 Valley Road, Reno, NV 89512

^* Corresponding author.

Labeling plants with isotopic forms of C allows many processes important to agriculture and/or natural resource management to be studied. Most C-labelling experiments have employed radioactive ¹⁴C, but in recent years regulatory constraints associated with use of radioactive materials appear to have curtailed studies which may have benefited from ¹⁴C labeling. In this paper, we describe a procedure for using the stable isotope ¹³C for C labelling. By using gas-isotope-ratio mass spectrometry, isotopic differences as small as 0.4 µg of ¹³C could be detected in the 23-d-old cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) we used to demonstrate the technique. The procedure is flexible and can be applied to most plant species and a wide range of research objectives. Because ¹³C is a naturally occurring stable isotope, there are no regulatory problems, environmental hazards, or health risks associated with its use.

Received for publication April 26, 1989.