Response of Seedling Root of Six Herbaceous Species to Light and Nutrient in Alpine Meadow of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Research Article
Response of Seedling Root of Six Herbaceous Species to Light and Nutrient in Alpine Meadow of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Gaolin Wu, Guozhen Du, Min Chen and Dashuai Sun

International Journal of Botany, 2006, 2(4), 395-401.

Abstract

Six herbaceous plants native to alpine meadows of the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau were examined for their plasticity in root morphology and root biomass allocation in response to several light and nutrient levels in a field experiment. Root length, root dry weight, root length to total seedling height ratio (R/Th) and root dry weight to total seedling dry weight (R/Tw) were examined. The root morphology and biomass allocation have significant response to variation of light and nutrient availability. The seedlings root length, root weight; R/Th and R/Tw of these six species were all significantly affected by the light and nutrient. There are significant interaction effects on root length and R/Th between light and nutrient. The nutrient availability significantly increased the root length and biomass, the maximum value generally occurred in moderate nutrient availability. The shade reduced the biomass allocation to root. A higher nutrient availability improved the R/Th and R/Tw in shade conditions. But, the poor nutrient availability could increase the R/Th and R/Tw in a strong light condition. There are significant maternal effects of species on the root morphological growth and root biomass allocation. These indicated that these seedlings have different root morphology and biomass allocation strategies in different circumstance heterogeneities.

ASCI-ID: 19-181

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