5-Aminolevulinic acid, also known as 5-amino-4-levulinic acid, referred to as 5-ALA or ALA, is a functional non-protein amino acid naturally occurring in organisms. It is an essential precursor for the biosynthesis of pyrrole compounds and has an important impact on plant photosynthesis and cellular energy metabolism.
ALA has the advantages of biodegradability, non-toxicity and no residue. And it is widely used in medicine, feed, agriculture and other fields.
Main roles of 5-aminolevulinic acid in agriculture
Plant Growth Regulator
Research in recent years has shown that 5-ALA has the following effects:
- Regulates the synthesis of chlorophyll;
- Improves the stability of chlorophyll and light-harvesting system II;
- Improves photosynthetic efficiency and promotes photosynthesis;
- Promotes basic physiological activity, such as: plant tissue differentiation, inhibits respiration in the dark, expands stomata, etc.
Therefore, it is not simply an intermediate product of biological metabolism, but also participates in the regulation process of plant growth and development. It has physiological activities similar to plant hormones and is popularized in agricultural production, speeding up the formation of chlorophyll synthase, increasing chlorophyll, and improving Leaf color to prevent leaves from turning yellow and falling off. It also has the function of promoting color change.
Green herbicide
Herbicides produced using 5-ALA can kill dicotyledonous weeds. But are harmless to crops such as cereals, wheat, and barley, which mostly belong to monocotyledonous plants, and have selective weeding effects.
Pesticides
It can cause biochemical metabolism imbalances in various pests such as house flies and cockroaches, causing the pests to convulse and even die. There is also research on the effect of porphyrin insecticides with 5-ALA as the main component on Chinese rice locusts in Jinyuan District, Taiyuan, all male worms in the treatment group died within 7 days, while about half of the male worms in the control group died, and there was no significant difference in the number of female worms dead at low concentrations.
In addition, there are the following functions of 5-aminolevulinic acid:
- Regulate the dominant expression of photosynthesis genes, improve photosynthesis efficiency, accelerate plant growth process, and improve environmental stress tolerance.
- It inhibits respiration and reduces the consumption of photosynthetic products. Non-light environments also have the function of absorbing nutrients and producing organic matter.
- Regulate the dominant expression of NH4+ absorption genes to accelerate the direct absorption of NH4+-N nutrients by crops. Directly forms amino acids and shortens metabolic pathways.
- Improve low light resistance, cold resistance and salt tolerance, improve fertilizer absorption capacity, improve fertilizer absorption efficiency, and reduce nitrate nitrogen in the body. The worse the cultivation conditions, such as less sunshine and low temperature, the better the effect.
- 5-ALA enables the dominant expression of precursor genes for chlorophyll formation, speeds up the synthesis of chlorophyll precursors, speeds up the conversion of photosynthesis into chemical energy, and increases yields. It has a regulatory effect on a variety of genes during the growth and reproduction of crops. On the basis of satisfying the organic-inorganic nutrition of crops, by regulating the dominant expression of multiple genes and accelerating the accumulation of organic matter throughout the production period, production can be significantly increased.
The potential of 5-Aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) in the agricultural field is unpredictable. It can be used in color change, yield increase, weeding and other scenarios. It is a product worthy of in-depth development.
