Fast-growing Larix kaempferi suffers under nutrient imbalance caused by phosphorus fertilization in larch plantation soil

Abstract

There are significant differences in the morphological and physiological responses of larch species with contrasting growth rates under fertilization. However, little is known about species-specific differences in responses to nutrient imbalance caused by fertilization. Therefore, in this study, the effects of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization on the morphological, physiological and chloroplast ultrastructural traits of two contrasting larch species, fast-growing Larix kaempferi and slowly-growing L. olgensis, grown in larch plantation soil, were investigated during two growth seasons. It was shown that N and combined N and P (NP) fertilization increased plant photosynthesis, foliar N contents, chlorophyll contents, and dry mass accumulation and partitioning in aboveground organs in both larch species. Although P fertilization enhanced P accumulation, its presence reduced the N content in soluble proteins in the foliage of both larch species. Yet, P fertilization exhibited some differences in the two species: P fertilization increased photosynthesis, chlorophyll content and biomass accumulation of L. olgensis, while it decreased these parameters dramatically in L. kaempferi. P fertilization increased foliar N content in L. olgensis, while it reduced it in L. kaempferi. P fertilized L. kaempferi had more damaged chloroplast ultrastructure than L. olgensis. In addition, L. kaempferi exhibited lower acid phosphatase activities, and higher photosynthesis and biomass accumulation than L. olgensis, except under P fertilization. L. kaempferi allocated more biomass into needles, except under P fertilization, while L. olgensis allocated more into stems under fertilization. In conclusion, it was shown that nutrient imbalance caused by P fertilization has greater negative effects on a fast-growing species than on a slowly-3 growing one, and the negative effects are related to differences in acclimation strategies, N partitioning to photosynthetic components, and P transportation and metabolism in the foliage.

Comparing the Effects of N and P Deficiency on Physiology and Growth for Fast- and Slow-Growing Provenances of Fraxinus mandshurica

“…In larch, a rapidly growing genotype is less tolerant to unbalanced nutritional conditions than a slow-growing genotype [66]. However, our research results showed that the tolerance of WC to nutrient deficiency was greater than DL, which resulted in a greater growth rate of WC than DL.…”

CHANGES IN SOIL CHEMICAL ATTRIBUTES AND NUTRITION OF Anadenanthera colubrina AND Eucalyptus CLONE UNDER NATURAL FERTILIZERS AND BIOCHAR

“…In addition, the A. colubrina individuals in this study are very young, not to mention that competition for water and nutrients is lower because of the homogeneous spacing. This fact led to younger plants having great potential to extract and recycle nutrients, because plants require more nutrients to form biomass during growth (LI et al, 2018).…”

Effects of soil nutrient availability and ozone on container-grown Japanese larch seedlings and role of soil microbes

“…Carr] is an ectomycorrhizal coniferous tree species widely distributed in Northeast Asia and planted in wide forested areas of Japan (Fuchen et al 1998;Ryu et al 2009). However, this fastgrowing species is also susceptible to diseases (Ryu et al 2009) and sensitive to O 3 (Wang et al 2015;Agathokleous et al 2017;Sugai et al 2018;) and other stresses (Li et al 2018b;Wang et al 2018). Soil fertilization also changes the symbiosis between Japanese larch roots and ECM (Wang et al 2018) as does elevated O 3 for a hybrid larch (L. gmelinii var.…”