scholarly journals Soil chemical legacies trigger species-specific and context-dependent root responses in later arriving plants

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin M. Delory ◽  
Hannes Schempp ◽  
Sina Maria Spachmann ◽  
Laura Störzer ◽  
Nicole M. van Dam ◽  
...  

AbstractSoil legacies play an important role for the creation of priority effects. However, we still poorly understand to what extent the metabolome found in the soil solution of a plant community is conditioned by its species composition and whether soil chemical legacies affect subsequent species during assembly. To test these hypotheses, we collected soil solutions from forb or grass communities and evaluated how the metabolome of these soil solutions affected the growth, biomass allocation, and functional traits of a forb (Dianthus deltoides) and a grass species (Festuca rubra). Results showed that the metabolomes found in the soil solutions of forb and grass communities differed in composition and chemical diversity. While soil chemical legacies did not have any effect on F. rubra, root foraging by D. deltoides decreased when plants received the soil solution from a grass or a forb community. Structural equation modelling showed that reduced soil exploration by D. deltoides arose via either a root growth-dependent pathway (forb metabolome) or a root trait-dependent pathway (grass metabolome). Reduced root foraging was not connected to a decrease in total N uptake. Our findings reveal that soil chemical legacies can create belowground priority effects by affecting root foraging in later arriving plants.

1995 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Jewett ◽  
David Daugharty ◽  
Helmut H. Krause ◽  
Paul A. Arp

Elemental concentrations (H, Ca, Mg, K, Na, NH4-N, NO3-N, P) and water flux data for precipitation and stream discharge as well as ion concentration data for soil solutions were collected and summarized for the Hayden Brook (HB) and Narrows Mountain Brook (NMB) watersheds of the Nashwaak Experimental Watershed Project (NEWP) in Central New Brunswick. Elemental concentrations, fluxes and stream discharge from both watersheds were compared for pre- and post-harvest periods (1972–1978 and 1978–1984, respectively). For soil and streamwater solutions, elemental concentrations were typically highest in late summer to fall, and continued to be high throughout the dormant season. For the soil solution, concentrations of NO3-N, NH4-N, Ca and K peaked in midsummer. Highest NO3-N concentrations were found in post-harvest soil solutions taken from hardwood sites. Nitrate levels were low in soil solutions taken from conifer sites, with post-harvest levels slightly higher than pre-harvest levels. Soil solution concentrations were found to vary with soil depth: pH values were lowest at the surface, and increased uniformly with depth; bases (Ca, Mg, K, Na) and NO3-N tended to be lowest at intermediate soil depth. Seasonally divergent trends were observed for post-harvest NO3-N in soil solutions and in streamwater: midsummer levels were high in the former, but low for the latter. Several aspects likely contributed to this divergence: (1) enhanced rates of N mineralization and nitrification in upland soils during post-harvest midsummers, (2) reduced post-harvest vegetational N uptake, (3) possibly accelerated N absorption by microbes and vegetation in the wet areas of the cut watershed. Altogether, post-harvest effects on stream discharge and streamwater chemistry were short-term: differences for elemental concentrations and stream discharge became insignificant after about 5 and 10–12 yr, respectively. Vegetation, especially tolerant hardwoods, recovered rapidly from stump and root sprouts. Key words: Clearcutting, stream discharge, soil solution, pH, Ca, Mg, K, Na, P, NO3-N, NH4-N, seasonal trends


Agronomy ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Katherin Meza ◽  
Steven J. Vanek ◽  
Yulissa Sueldo ◽  
Edgar Olivera ◽  
Raúl Ccanto ◽  
...  

Soils of the Andean highlands are under threat from cropping system intensification. Improved forage-based fallows offer great promise to address this issue, but research is needed to better understand the potential of species mixtures vs. monocultures to support multiple farmer objectives, especially forage production and soil conservation. We used a pot study to quantify above- and belowground biomass production as well as the total N uptake of grass–legume pairs between five grasses: (1) oat (Avena sativa), (2) ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), (3) festulolium (Lolium × Festuca genera), (4) brome grass (Bromus catharticus), and (5) orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata), and four legumes: (1) vetch (Vicia dasycarpa), (2) red clover (Trifolium pratense), (3) black medic (Medicago lupulina), and (4) alfalfa (Medicago sativa) relative to the performance of each species in monoculture within two soils from the central Peruvian Andes. Grass–legume bicultures demonstrated significant overyielding, producing 65% and 28% more total dry biomass and total N uptake on average than monocultures. Aboveground biomass of bicultures was significantly influenced by the species of legume present, while belowground biomass was more affected by the grass species in the mixture. When evaluating the growth of each species separately, our findings indicate that overyielding was driven more by the enhanced growth of grasses relative to legumes. Our findings indicate that combining key functional groups (e.g., grass and legume, annual and perennial) offers great promise for developing improved fallows for supporting soil health and productivity in Andean agroecosystems.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurbir Singh ◽  
Karl Williard ◽  
Jon Schoonover ◽  
Kelly Nelson ◽  
Gurpreet Kaur

Nitrogen dynamics and water quality benefits deriving from the use of cover crops (CCs) are mostly incurred from plot-scale studies without incorporating large-scale variability that is induced by landscape positions. Our understanding of how topography affects the N response in CC systems is limited. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of topography (shoulder, backslope, and footslope) and CCs (cereal rye, Secale cereale L. and hairy vetch, Vicia villosa L.) on nitrogen (N) uptake, soil inorganic N content (nitrate-N, NO3-N and total N, TN), and N leaching in watersheds that were planted with or without CCs. The crop rotation in CC watersheds was corn (Zea mays L.)-cereal rye-soybean (Glycine max L.)-hairy vetch whereas control watersheds had corn-no CC-soybean-no CC rotation. Data from the watersheds was collected for three cash crop seasons and three CC seasons from 2015 to 2018. Nitrogen uptake of hairy vetch in CC watersheds was 110.9, 85.02, and 44.89 kg ha−1 higher at the shoulder, backslope, and footslope positions, when compared to shoulder, backslope, and footslope positions of no CC watersheds. About 12 to 69% reduction in soil solution NO3-N and TN was observed with cereal rye CC when compared to no CCs watersheds. However, reductions in soil solution N concentrations were only seen at the footslope position where the hairy vetch reduced NO3-N and TN concentrations by 7.71 and 8.14 mg L−1 in CC watersheds compared to no CC watersheds. During the corn and soybean growing seasons, similar reductions in soil solution N concentration were only seen at the footslope position in the CC watersheds. The excessive N at footslope positions of CC watersheds may have been fixed in CC biomass, immobilized, or lost through denitrification stimulated by higher water availability at the footslope position. The results of this research can help farmers and stakeholders to make decisions that are site-specific and topographically driven for the management of CCs in row-cropped systems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khadim Dawar ◽  
Shah Fahad ◽  
M. M. R. Jahangir ◽  
Iqbal Munir ◽  
Syed Sartaj Alam ◽  
...  

AbstractIn this study, we explored the role of biochar (BC) and/or urease inhibitor (UI) in mitigating ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) discharge from urea fertilized wheat cultivated fields in Pakistan (34.01°N, 71.71°E). The experiment included five treatments [control, urea (150 kg N ha−1), BC (10 Mg ha−1), urea + BC and urea + BC + UI (1 L ton−1)], which were all repeated four times and were carried out in a randomized complete block design. Urea supplementation along with BC and BC + UI reduced soil NH3 emissions by 27% and 69%, respectively, compared to sole urea application. Nitrous oxide emissions from urea fertilized plots were also reduced by 24% and 53% applying BC and BC + UI, respectively, compared to urea alone. Application of BC with urea improved the grain yield, shoot biomass, and total N uptake of wheat by 13%, 24%, and 12%, respectively, compared to urea alone. Moreover, UI further promoted biomass and grain yield, and N assimilation in wheat by 38%, 22% and 27%, respectively, over sole urea application. In conclusion, application of BC and/or UI can mitigate NH3 and N2O emissions from urea fertilized soil, improve N use efficiency (NUE) and overall crop productivity.


Biochar ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Peng ◽  
Xiaori Han ◽  
Na Li ◽  
Kun Chen ◽  
Jinfeng Yang ◽  
...  

AbstractCombined application of biochar with fertilizers has been used to increase soil fertility and crop yield. However, the coupling mechanisms through which biochar improves crop yield at field scale and the time span over which biochar affects carbon and nitrogen transformation and crop yield are still little known. In this study, a long-term field trial (2013–2019) was performed in brown soil planting maize. Six treatments were designed: CK—control; NPK—application of chemical fertilizers; C1PK—low biochar without nitrogen fertilizer; C1NPK, C2NPK and C3NPK—biochar at 1.5, 3 and 6 t ha−1, respectively, combined with chemical fertilizers. Results showed that the δ15N value in the topsoil of 0–20 cm layer in the C3NPK treatment reached a peak of 291 ‰ at the third year (2018), and demonstrated a peak of 402 ‰ in the NPK treatment in the initial isotope trial in 2016. Synchronously, SOC was not affected until the third to fourth year after biochar addition, and resulted in a significant increase in total N of 2.4 kg N ha−1 in 2019 in C3NPK treatment. During the entire experiment, the 15N recovery rates of 74–80% were observed highest in the C2NPK and C3NPK treatments, resulting in an annual increase in yields significantly. The lowest subsoil δ15N values ranged from 66‰ to 107‰, and the 15N residual rate would take 70 years for a complete decay to 0.001% in the C3NPK. Our findings suggest that biochar compound fertilizers can increase C stability and N retention in soil and improve N uptake by maize, while the loss of N was minimized. Biochars, therefore, may have an important potential for improving the agroecosystem and ecological balance. Graphic abstract


2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yushi Zhang ◽  
Yubin Wang ◽  
Churong Liu ◽  
Delian Ye ◽  
Danyang Ren ◽  
...  

Increasing use of plant density or/and nitrogen (N) application has been introduced to maize production in the past few decades. However, excessive planting density or/and use of fertilizer may cause reduced N use efficiency (NUE) and increased lodging risks. Ethephon application improves maize lodging resistance and has been an essential measure in maize intensive production systems associated with high plant density and N input in China. Limited information is available about the effect of ethephon on maize N use and the response to plant density under different N rates in the field. A three-year field study was conducted with two ethephon applications (0 and 90 g ha−1), four N application rates (0, 75, 150, and 225 kg N ha−1), and two plant densities (6.75 plants m−2 and 7.5 plants m−2) to evaluate the effects of ethephon on maize NUE indices (N agronomic efficiency, NAE; N recovery efficiency, NRE; N uptake efficiency, NUpE; N utilization efficiency, NUtE; partial factor productivity of N, PFPN), biomass, N concentration, grain yield and N uptake, and translocation properties. The results suggest that the application of ethephon decreased the grain yield by 1.83–5.74% due to the decrease of grain numbers and grain weight during the three experimental seasons. Meanwhile, lower biomass, NO3- and NH4+ fluxes in xylem bleeding sap, and total N uptake were observed under ethephon treatments. These resulted in lower NAE and NUpE under the ethephon treatment at a corresponding N application rate and plant density. The ethephon treatment had no significant effects on the N concentration in grains, and it decreased the N concentration in stover at the harvesting stage, while increasing the plant N concentration at the silking stage. Consequently, post-silking N remobilization was significantly increased by 14.10–32.64% under the ethephon treatment during the experimental periods. Meanwhile, NUtE significantly increased by ethephon.


2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 73 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. NYKÄNEN ◽  
A. GRANSTEDT ◽  
L. JAUHIAINEN

Legume-based leys form the basis for crop rotations in organic farming as they fix nitrogen (N) from the atmosphere for the succeeding crops. The age, yield, C:N, biological N fixation (BNF) and total N of red clover-grass leys were studied for their influence on yields, N uptake and N use efficiency (NUE) of the two sequential cereal crops planted after the leys. Mineral N in deeper soil (30-90 cm) was measured to determine N leaching risk. Altogether, four field experiments were carried out in 1994-1998 at two sites. The age of the ley had no significant effect on the yields and N uptake of the two subsequent cereals. Surprisingly, the residual effect of the leys was negligible, at 0–20 kg N ha-1yr-1. On the other hand, the yield and C:N of previous red clover-grass leys, as well as BNF-N and total-N incorporated into the soil influenced subsequent cereals. NUEs of cereals after ley incorporation were rather high, varying from 30% to 80%. This might indicate that other factors, such as competition from weeds, prevented maximal growth of cereals. The mineral N content deeper in the soil was mostly below 10 kg ha-1 in the sandy soil of Juva, but was 5-25 kg ha-1 in clayey soil of Mietoinen.;


2002 ◽  
Vol 127 (6) ◽  
pp. 1013-1017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Feller ◽  
Matthias Fink

To reduce nitrogen (N) losses from vegetable fields, fertilizer recommendations should be adjusted according to the large range in yield and thus in N uptake of vegetable crops. Therefore, a model was used to predict total N uptake based on expected yield. The model has been validated successfully in a series of studies for Brussels sprouts (Brassica oleracea L. var. gemmifera), white cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata) and kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea L. var. gongylodes). The objective of this study was to validate the model for table beet (Beta vulgaris L. var. conditiva), a crop with a considerable variability in N uptake, which is caused by a large potential range of selecting sowing dates, plant densities and cultivars. Field experiments were carried out over two years. Fifty-five combinations of N fertilizer levels, plant densities, cultivars and sowing dates were tested. Plants were sampled at 2- or 3-week intervals, and fresh matter, dry matter and N content of leaves and roots were measured. Crop specific model parameters for table beets were determined from independent data. The model wverestimated N uptake for N-limiting conditions, but for optimally fertilized table beets measured and estimated N uptake showed a close correlation (R2 = 0.93) when total yield was used as an input parameter for the model. Although the error of estimation (35 kg·ha-1) was considerable, studies with other vegetable crops using the model found the error even higher if other tools, such as look-up tables, were used for predicting N uptake.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lénaïc Pardon ◽  
Cécile Bessou ◽  
Nathalie Saint-Geours ◽  
Benoît Gabrielle ◽  
Ni’matul Khasanah ◽  
...  

Abstract. Oil palm is the most rapidly expanding tropical perennial crop. Its cultivation raises environmental concerns, notably related to the use of nitrogen (N) fertilisers and associated pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. While numerous and diverse models exist to estimate N losses from agriculture, very few are available for tropical perennial crops. Moreover, there has been no critical analysis of the performances of existing models in the specific context of tropical perennial cropping systems. We assessed the capacity of 11 models and 29 sub-models to estimate N losses in a typical oil palm plantation over a 25-year-growth cycle, through leaching and runoff, and emissions of NH3, N2, N2O, and NOx. Estimates of total N losses were very variable, ranging from 21 to 139 kg N ha−1 yr−1. On average, 31 % of the losses occurred during the first three years of the cycle. Leaching comprised about 80 % of the losses. Based on a comprehensive Morris sensitivity analysis, the most influential variables were soil clay content, rooting depth and oil palm N uptake. We also compared model estimates with published field measurements. Many challenges remain to model more accurately processes related to the peculiarities of perennial tropical crop systems such as oil palm.


1989 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-272
Author(s):  
J.H.G. Slangen ◽  
G.J. Krook ◽  
C.H.M. Hendriks ◽  
N.A.A. Hof

The effect of different amounts (0, 75, 150 and 225 kg/ha) and timings of split application of N on yield and nutrient uptake of 3 hybrid cultivars grown for bulbs was investigated. Efficiency of N-uptake was determined by soil and plant analysis with field experiments in 1983, 1984 and 1985. Leaching of fertilizers applied before planting induced low nutrient efficiencies in sandy soils. Dividing the total N-dressings into 4 monthly applications from Mar. to June or Apr. to July led to a higher N-efficiency, though fertilizers were easily leached with high rainfall. A total of 150 kg N/ha appeared to be adequate. Concentrations of plant nutrients (P, K, Ca, Mg and Na) in mature plants of cultivars Aristo, Connecticut King and Enchantment are presented in relation to bulb yield and N-uptake. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)


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