Internal browning (or brown heart) in radish is a physiological disorder, manifested as a reddish pigmentation in the central part of the tuberous root. Boron deficiency has been known to induce brown heart, but the relationship between B tissue concentration and the development of brown heart has not been tested. Here, we examined the relationship between these variables. Dissected root tissues of two inbred lines (i.e., cultivars) of East Asian big long radish exhibiting different severity of brown heart were submitted to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis to reveal the spatial distribution of 19 chemical elements. Statistical analysis revealed that only B correlated negatively with the severity of brown heart. There was no significant difference in the average B concentration between the two cultivars, suggesting that differences in the efficient use of local B may be responsible for the variation in brown heart resistance between the two cultivars.
