The relationships between symbiotic nitrogen ®xation (SNF) activity and C¯uxes were investigated in pea plants (Pisum sativum L. cv. Baccara) using simultaneous 13 C and 15 N labelling. Analysis of the dynamics of labelled CO 2 ef¯ux from the nodulated roots allowed the different components associated with SNF activity to be calculated, together with root and nodule synthetic and maintenance processes. The carbon costs for the synthesis of roots and nodules were similar and decreased with time.

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... Carbon lost by turnover, associated with maintenance processes, decreased with time for nodules while it increased in the roots. Nodule turnover remained higher than root turnover until¯owering. The effect of the N source on SNF was investigated using plants supplied with nitrate or plants only ®xing N 2 . SNF per unit nodule biomass (nodule speci®c activity) was linearly related to the amount of carbon allocated to the nodulated roots regardless of the N source, with regression slopes decreasing across the growth cycle. These regression slopes permitted potential values of SNF speci®c activity to be de®ned. SNF activity decreased as the plants aged, presumably because of the combined effects of both increasing C costs of SNF (from 4.0 to 6.7 g C g ±1 N) and the limitation of C supply to the nodules. SNF activity competed for C against synthesis and maintenance processes within the nodulated roots. Synthesis was the main limiting factor of SNF, but its importance decreased as the plant aged. At seed-®lling, SNF was probably more limited by nodule age than by C supply to the nodulated roots.