Effects of N and P additions on twig traits of wild apple (Malus sieversii) saplings

BMC Plant Biology

Research

Ye Tao¹  Xiao-Bing Zhou¹  Jing-Ming Yan¹  Yuan-Yuan Zhang¹  Yuan-Ming Zhang¹ 

[1] State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 830011, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China;Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Conservation and Utilization of Plant Gene Resources, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 830011, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China;

关键词: Malus sieversii;    Nutrient addition effect;    Growth performance;    Plant trait network;    Population conservation;    Twig trait;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12870-023-04245-4

 received in 2023-03-01, accepted in 2023-04-23,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundWild apple (Malus sieversii) is under second-class national protection in China and one of the lineal ancestors of cultivated apples worldwide. In recent decades, the natural habitation area of wild apple trees has been seriously declining, resulting in a lack of saplings and difficulty in population regeneration. Artificial near-natural breeding is crucial for protecting and restoring wild apple populations, and adding nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) is one of the important measures to improve the growth performance of saplings. In this study, field experiments using N (CK, N1, N2, and N3: 0, 10, 20, and 40 g m− 2 yr− 1, respectively), P (CK, P1, P2, and P3: 0, 2, 4, and 8 g m− 2 yr− 1, respectively), N20Px (CK, N2P1, N2P2, and N2P3: N20P2, N20P4 and N20P8 g m− 2 yr− 1, respectively), and NxP4 (CK, N1P2, N2P2, and N3P2: N10P4, N20P4, and N40P4 g m− 2 yr− 1, respectively) treatments (totaling 12 levels, including one CK) were conducted in four consecutive years. The twig traits (including four current-year stem, 10 leaf, and three ratio traits) and comprehensive growth performance of wild apple saplings were analyzed under different nutrient treatments.ResultsN addition had a significantly positive effect on stem length, basal diameter, leaf area, and leaf dry mass, whereas P addition had a significantly positive effect on stem length and basal diameter only. The combination of N and P (NxP4 and N20Px) treatments evidently promoted stem growth at moderate concentrations; however, the N20Px treatment showed a markedly negative effect at low concentrations and a positive effect at moderate and high concentrations. The ratio traits (leaf intensity, leaf area ratio, and leaf to stem mass ratio) decreased with the increase in nutrient concentration under each treatment. In the plant trait network, basal diameter, stem mass, and twig mass were tightly connected to other traits after nutrient treatments, indicating that stem traits play an important role in twig growth. The membership function revealed that the greatest comprehensive growth performance of saplings was achieved after N addition alone, followed by that under the NxP4 treatment (except for N40P4).ConclusionsConsequently, artificial nutrient treatments for four years significantly but differentially altered the growth status of wild apple saplings, and the use of appropriate N fertilizer promoted sapling growth. These results can provide scientific basis for the conservation and management of wild apple populations.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

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