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- Title
Fall fertilization enhanced nitrogen storage and translocation in <i>Larix olgensis</i> seedlings.
- Authors
Zhu, Y.; Dumroese, R. K.; Pinto, J. R.; Li, G. L.; Liu, Y.
- Abstract
Fall nutrient loading of deciduous forest nursery seedlings is of special interest because of foliage abscission and varied translocation patterns. For non-deciduous seedlings in the nursery, fall fertilization typically can reverse nutrient dilution and possibly increase nutrient reserves; however, this technique has received little attention with deciduous conifer trees that translocate nutrients before abscising foliage. We evaluated how fall nitrogen (N) fertilization affected N storage and translocation in the deciduous conifer Olga Bay larch ( Larix olgensis Henry) seedlings during the hardening period. Seedlings were supplied with 25 mg N seedling −1 for 15 weeks before hardening and fall fertilization treatments began with a three week application period of K 15NO 3 at 0, 5, 10 and 15 mg N seedling −1. During the hardening period, fall N fertilization had little effect on seedling morphology. The N concentration and content of needles decreased dramatically as needles abscised, while that of stems and roots increased. Six weeks after fall N fertilization ceased, all seedlings translocated similar net N from their needles. For the control seedlings, this accounted for 84 % of the N stored in stems and roots. For fall fertilized seedlings, however, the proportion of N stored in stems and roots translocated from needles accounted for only 41–61 % of the total because of absorption of fall fertilizer that was translocated directly to stems and roots. Six weeks after fall fertilization, the distribution pattern of N concentration and content in seedlings was found in this order: stems > fine roots > coarse roots > needles. Our results suggest that providing deciduous conifer seedlings N during hardening, in this case Olga Bay larch, is a way to promote nutrient loading during nursery production.
- Subjects
NITROGEN fertilizers; SEEDLINGS; PLANT translocation; PLANT nutrients; PLANT morphology; PLANT stems; PLANT roots; FOREST nurseries
- Publication
New Forests, 2013, Vol 44, Issue 6, p849
- ISSN
0169-4286
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11056-013-9370-z