scholarly journals Effects of Phosphorus Additions on Growth, Mineral Nutrition, and Gas Exchange of Red Alder (Alnus rubra) Seedlings Grown in Outdoor Sandbeds

2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin R. Brown

Abstract The growth of young red alder on Vancouver Island may increase with phosphorus (P) availability. In order to better interpret growth responses in field fertilization trials, this study examined the effects of P additions (10, 100, 200, or 400 kg P/ha) on the growth and nutrient uptake of red alder seedlings grown in outdoor sandbeds for one growing season. Height did not increase with P supply. Stem growth and whole-plant mass increased with P rate from 10 to 100 kg/ha, but did not increase further at greater rates of P addition. Stem volumes, averaged across the P100, P200 and P400 treatments, were 37% greater than in the P10 treatment. Volume and mass did not increase as foliar P concentrations exceeded 2.2 g P/kg. These responses were consistent with data from field trials. Reduced growth in the P10 treatment was not accompanied by significantly reduced foliar P concentrations. Increases in stem volume with P supply were associated with increases in the amount of branching and foliage borne on branches but not with shifts in allocation of dry matter from roots to shoots. West. J. Appl. For. 17(4):209–215.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Alexander Peña Venegas ◽  
Soon-Jae Lee ◽  
Moses Thuita ◽  
Deusdedit Peter Mlay ◽  
Cargele Masso ◽  
...  

A vast majority of terrestrial plants are dependent on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for their nutrient acquisition. AMF act as an extension of the root system helping phosphate uptake. In agriculture, harnessing the symbiosis can potentially increase plant growth. Application of the AMF Rhizophagus irregularis has been demonstrated to increase the yields of various crops. However, there is a paradigm that AMF colonization of roots, as well as the plant benefits afforded by inoculation with AMF, decreases with increasing phosphorus (P) supply in the soil. The paradigm suggests that when fertilized with sufficient P, inoculation of crops would not be beneficial. However, the majority of experiments demonstrating the paradigm were conducted in sterile conditions without a background AMF or soil microbial community. Interestingly, intraspecific variation in R. irregularis can greatly alter the yield of cassava even at a full application of the recommended P dose. Cassava is a globally important crop, feeding 800 million people worldwide, and a crop that is highly dependent on AMF for P uptake. In this study, field trials were conducted at three locations in Kenya and Tanzania using different AMF and cassava varieties under different P fertilization levels to test if the paradigm occurs in tropical field conditions. We found that AMF colonization and inoculation responsiveness of cassava does not always decrease with an increased P supply as expected by the paradigm. The obtained results demonstrate that maximizing the inoculation responsiveness of cassava is not necessarily only in conditions of low P availability, but that this is dependent on cassava and fungal genotypes. Thus, the modeling of plant symbiosis with AMF under different P levels in nature should be considered with caution.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 1821-1837 ◽  
Author(s):  
Honglang Duan ◽  
Josephine Ontedhu ◽  
Paul Milham ◽  
James D Lewis ◽  
David T Tissue

Abstract Eucalypts are likely to play a critical role in the response of Australian forests to rising atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]) and temperature. Although eucalypts are frequently phosphorus (P) limited in native soils, few studies have examined the main and interactive effects of P availability, [CO2] and temperature on eucalypt morphology, physiology and anatomy. To address this issue, we grew seedlings of Eucalyptus tereticornis Smith across its P-responsive range (6–500 mg kg−1) for 120 days under two [CO2] (ambient: 400 μmol mol−1 (Ca) and elevated: 640 μmol mol−1 (Ce)) and two temperature (ambient: 24/16 °C (Ta) and elevated: 28/20 °C (Te) day/night) treatments in a sunlit glasshouse. Seedlings were well-watered and supplied with otherwise non-limiting macro- and micro-nutrients. Increasing soil P supply increased growth responses to Ce and Te. At the highest P supplies, Ce increased total dry mass, leaf number and total leaf area by ~50%, and Te increased leaf number by ~40%. By contrast, Ce and Te had limited effects on seedling growth at the lowest P supply. Soil P supply did not consistently modify photosynthetic responses to Ce or Te. Overall, effects of Ce and Te on growth, physiological and anatomical responses of E. tereticornis seedlings were generally neutral or negative at low soil P supply, suggesting that native tree responses to future climates may be relatively small in native low-P soils in Australian forests.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maydra Alen Inail ◽  
Eko B. Hardiyanto ◽  
Daniel S. Mendham

Eucalyptus pellita has rapidly emerged as the species that has replaced Acacia mangium in broad-scale commercial plantations in Indonesia following widespread losses due to disease and in soils that have suffered a steady decline in phosphorus (P) under plantation forestry. Conversion from a nitrogen (N)-fixing to a non-N fixing species is expected to change the nutrient dynamics and the management required to maximise productivity. In this study in South Sumatra, responses of E. pellita to the application of N, P, potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) fertilisers were assessed at a number of trials on sites with varying site history; A. mangium was planted at one site to compare the species’ responses to N and P. The growth of E. pellita responded significantly (p < 0.01) to P’s application but not to N, K or Ca, with the addition of P increasing the stem volume by 32.6 m3 ha−1 at 3 years of age compared with no addition of P fertiliser; the demand for P in the first two years of growth was, respectively, 4.8 and 6.8 kg ha−1. This positive and large response appears to be because E. pellita has a lower efficiency in its use of P than A. mangium and is, therefore, more responsive than A. mangium to the addition of P. The reason for the lack of response to N remains unclear, although demand for N as well as K and Ca was high. These results suggest that sites recently converted to E. pellita from A. mangium and also new ex-native forest sites will be likely to only respond to P addition and that the response of E. pellita is likely to be greater than for A. mangium to maximise yield. At present, additional N, Ca or K fertilisers are not required, but this may change in the future.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiucheng Liu ◽  
Yuting Wang ◽  
Shuangri Liu ◽  
Miao Liu

Abstract Aims Phosphorus (P) availability and efficiency are especially important for plant growth and productivity. However, the sex-specific P acquisition and utilization strategies of dioecious plant species under different N forms are not clear. Methods This study investigated the responsive mechanisms of dioecious Populus cathayana females and males based on P uptake and allocation to soil P supply under N deficiency, nitrate (NO3 −) and ammonium (NH4 +) supply. Important Findings Females had a greater biomass, root length density (RLD), specific root length (SRL) and shoot P concentration than males under normal P availability with two N supplies. NH4 + supply led to higher total root length, RLD and SRL but lower root tip number than NO3 − supply under normal P supply. Under P deficiency, males showed a smaller root system but greater photosynthetic P availability and higher leaf P remobilization, exhibiting a better capacity to adaptation to P-deficiency than females. Under P deficiency, NO3 − supply increased leaf photosynthesis and PUE but reduced RLD and SRL in females while males had higher leaf P redistribution and photosynthetic PUE than NH4 + supply. Females had a better potentiality to cope with P deficiency under NO3 − supply than NH4 + supply; the contrary was true for males. These results suggest that females may devote to increase in P uptake and shoot P allocation under normal P availability, especially under NO3 − supply, while males adopt more efficient resource use and P remobilization to maximum their tolerance to P-deficiency.


1992 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 457 ◽  
Author(s):  
SC Wong ◽  
PE Kriedemann ◽  
GD Farquhar

Four eucalypt species were selected to represent two ecologically disparate groups which would be expected to contrast in seedling vigour and in the nature of growth responses to CO2 × nitrogen supply. Eucalyptus camaldulensis and E. cypellocarpa were taken as examples of fast-growing species with a wide distribution, that develop into large trees. By contrast, E. pauciflora and E. pulverulenta become smaller trees, and show a more limited distribution. Seedlings were established in pots (5 L) of a loamy soil and supplied with nutrient solution containing either 1.2 or 6.0 mM NO3- in both ambient (33 Pa) and CO2-enriched (66 Pa) greenhouses. Analysis of growth response to treatments (2 × 2 factorial) was based on destructive harvest of plants sampled on four occasions over 84 days for E. carnaldulensis and E. cypellocarpa, and 100 days for E. pulverulenta and E. pauciflora. A positive CO2 × N interaction on plant dry mass and leaf area was expressed in all species throughout the study period. In E. carnaldulensis and E. cypellocarpa, plant mass was doubled by high N at 33 Pa CO2, compared with a three to four-fold increase at 66 Pa to reach 34g by final harvest. In E. pulverulenta and E. pauciflora, slower growth resulted in about 50% less mass at a given age, but relative increases due to CO2 and N were of a similar order. A distinction can be made between N and CO2 effects on growth processes as follows. When trees were grown on low N, elevated CO2 increased nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) at both leaf and whole plant levels. On high N, leaf NUE was increased in E. camaldulensis and E. cypellocarpa, but decreased in E. pulverulenta and E. pauciflora. Whole plant NUE showed no consistent response to elevated CO2 when plants were supplied high N. Net assimilation rate (NAR) was increased by elevated CO2 in all species on either N treatment. Moreover, high N increased NAR under either CO2 treatment in all species. There was a positive N × CO2 interaction on NAR in E. carnaldulensis and E. cypellocarpa, but not in E. pulverulenta and E. pauciflora. Growth indices for E. carnaldulensis and E. cypellocarpa species, and especially E. carnaldulensis, generally exceeded those for E. pulverulenta and E. pauciflora in terms of NAR, leaf NUE, N-enhancement of CO2 effects on leaf area and biomass, and non-structural carbohydrate content of foliage.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger W. Ruess ◽  
Michaela M. Swanson ◽  
Knut Kielland ◽  
Jack W. McFarland ◽  
Karl D. Olson ◽  
...  

Because of its high phosphorus (P) demands, it is likely that the abundance, distribution, and N-fixing capacity of Alnus in boreal forests are tightly coupled with P availability and the mobilization and uptake of soil P via ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF). We examined whether Alnus shifts EMF communities in coordination with increasingly more complex organic P forms across a 200-year-old successional sequence along the Tanana River in interior Alaska. Root-tip activities of acid phosphatase, phosphodiesterase, and phytase of A. tenuifolia-associated EMF were positively intercorrelated but did not change in a predictable manner across the shrub, to hardwood to coniferous forest successional sequence. Approximately half of all Alnus roots were colonized by Alnicola and Tomentella taxa, and ordination analysis indicated that the EMF community on Alnus is a relatively distinct, host-specific group. Despite differences in the activities of the two Alnus dominants to mobilize acid phosphatase and phosphodiesterase, the root-tip activities of P-mobilizing enzymes of the Alnus-EMF community were not dramatically different from other co-occurring boreal plant hosts. This suggests that if Alnus has a greater influence on P cycling than other plant functional types, additional factors influencing P mobilization and uptake at the root and/or whole-plant level must be involved.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Hu ◽  
Barb Thomas

Balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera L.) is a transcontinental tree species in North America, making it an ideal species to study intra-specific hybrid vigour as a tool for increasing genetic gain in growth. We tested the hypothesis that intra-specific breeding of disparate populations of balsam poplar would lead to the expression of hybrid vigour and we determined the role of endogenous hormones linked to ecophysiological and growth performance. In September 2009, three field trials were established in Canada (two in Alberta (AB), i.e., Fields AB1 and AB2, and one in Quebec (QC), i.e., Field QC1) in conjunction with Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. and the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks, Quebec. Five male parents from each province as well as five female parents from QC and four female parents from AB were used for breeding intra-regional and inter-regional crosses. Based on a significant difference at year six for height and diameter, from the AB1 and AB2 field trials, the AB × QC cross-type was selected for further study. Cuttings from the AB × QC cross-type were grown in a randomized complete block design under near-optimal greenhouse conditions. Families were identified as slow- or fast-growing, and the relationship between hormone levels and growth performance of the genotypes within the families were examined. In late June, after 34 days of growth, internode tissue samples collected from each progeny were analyzed for gibberellic acids, indole-3-acetic acid, and abscisic acid content. Stem volume of two-month-old rooted cuttings, grown under optimal greenhouse conditions, was positively and significantly correlated with the photosynthetic rate, greenhouse growth, and stem volume of 8-year-old field-grown trees (Fields AB1 values: r = 0.629 and p = 0.012; AB2 values: r = 0.619 and p = 0.014, and QC1 values: r = 0.588 and p = 0.021, respectively). We determined that disparate and native populations of balsam poplar can be bred to produce superior progeny with enhanced stem growth traits.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anilkumar Gowda ◽  
Timothy J. Rydel ◽  
Andrew M. Wollacott ◽  
Robert S. Brown ◽  
Waseem Akbar ◽  
...  

Abstract Lygus species of plant-feeding insects have emerged as economically important pests of cotton in the United States. These species are not controlled by commercial Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton varieties resulting in economic losses and increased application of insecticide. Previously, a Bt crystal protein (Cry51Aa2) was reported with insecticidal activity against Lygus spp. However, transgenic cotton plants expressing this protein did not exhibit effective protection from Lygus feeding damage. Here we employ various optimization strategies, informed in part by protein crystallography and modelling, to identify limited amino-acid substitutions in Cry51Aa2 that increase insecticidal activity towards Lygus spp. by >200-fold. Transgenic cotton expressing the variant protein, Cry51Aa2.834_16, reduce populations of Lygus spp. up to 30-fold in whole-plant caged field trials. One transgenic event, designated MON88702, has been selected for further development of cotton varieties that could potentially reduce or eliminate insecticide application for control of Lygus and the associated environmental impacts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1667-1676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douwe S. Maat ◽  
Nicole J. Bale ◽  
Ellen C. Hopmans ◽  
Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté ◽  
Stefan Schouten ◽  
...  

Abstract. The intact polar lipid (IPL) composition of phytoplankton is plastic and dependent on environmental factors. Previous studies have shown that phytoplankton under low phosphorus (P) availability substitutes phosphatidylglycerols (PGs) with sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerols (SQDGs) and digalactosyldiacylglycerols (DGDGs). However, these studies focused merely on P depletion, while phytoplankton in the natural environment often experience P limitation whereby the strength depends on the supply rate of the limiting nutrient. Here we report on the IPL composition of axenic cultures of the picophotoeukaryote Micromonas pusilla under different degrees of P limitation, i.e., P-controlled chemostats at 97 and 32 % of the maximum growth rate, and P starvation (obtained by stopping P supply to these chemostats). P-controlled cultures were also grown at elevated partial carbon dioxide pressure (pCO2) to mimic a future scenario of strengthened vertical stratification in combination with ocean acidification. Additionally, we tested the influence of viral infection for this readily infected phytoplankton host species. Results show that both SQDG : PG and DGDG : PG ratios increased with enhanced P limitation. Lipid composition was, however, not affected by enhanced (750 vs. 370 µatm) pCO2. In the P-starved virally infected cells the increase in SQDG : PG and DGDG : PG ratios was lower, whereby the extent depended on the growth rate of the host cultures before infection. The lipid membrane of the virus MpV-08T itself lacked some IPLs (e.g., monogalactosyldiacylglycerols; MGDGs) in comparison with its host. This study demonstrates that, besides P concentration, also the P supply rate, viral infection and even the history of the P supply rate can affect phytoplankton lipid composition (i.e., the non-phospholipid : phospholipid ratio), with possible consequences for the nutritional quality of phytoplankton.


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