Fig. 3

Ion intensity signals of Mg, P, K and Mn in the stele and cortex tissues of barley root and their corresponding blanks. The stele and cortex tissues were micro-dissected, collected and pooled from 3 cross-sections mounted on PET membrane-covered glass slides. Representative blank samples (with identical area as the tissue sample) were cut and collected from the membrane where no plant tissue was present. All samples were digested and analyzed by ICP-MS. Data was tested with a one-way ANOVA t-test, and the asterisks indicate significant differences (*P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01; ***P ≤ 0.001) between the root tissue and the blank samples for each element (n = 4)