Endogenous ethylene production is a potential problem in the measurement of nitrogenase activity associated with excised corn and sorghum roots.

Endogenous ethylene production was evaluated as a source of ethylene during acetylene reduction assays with freshly collected roots of field-grown corn, Zea mays L. cv Funks G-4646, and sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. cv CK-60A. Ethylene production was not detected when roots were incubated in air without acetylene. The presence of endogenous ethylene production was confirmed when roots were incubated anaerobically and in the presence of 40 millimolar sodium hydrosulfite. Ethylene oxidase activity was also associated with excised roots. The rate of ethylene oxidation was higher than the rates of ethylene accumulation during either acetylene reduction assays or anaerobic incubations. These results indicate that the procedure of incubating roots of grasses in air to monitor endogenous ethylene production is not a valid control in acetylene reduction studies with grasses. The presence of endogenous ethylene production during acetylene reduction assays was demonstrated by using either CO to inhibit nitrogenase activity or chloramphenicol to inhibit nitrogenase synthesis in freshly excised roots.