Effects of Soil Nutrients on Competition and Morphological Plasticity in Impatiens Balsamina L. Population

The IUP Journal of Environmental Sciences, Vol. III, No. 3, pp. 7-23, August 2009

Posted: 1 Aug 2009

See all articles by Akira Haraguchi

Akira Haraguchi

The University of Kitakyushu

Masayuki Yokozawa

National Institute of Agro-Environmental Sciences

Motomu Toda

Hokkaido University

Toshihiko Hara

Hokkaido University

Date Written: July 30, 2009

Abstract

This paper examines the morphological and physiological responses of an annual plant on the wide range of soil nutrient availability, including the photosynthetic activity of plants. Populations of Impatiens balsamina L. are raised over a wide range of densities (20-1,250 plants m–2) at four nutrient levels (1.7-37.7 g-Nm–2) in greenhouse, and three consecutive harvests are performed. The photosynthetic rate of an individual leaf and phenotypic properties of every organ of the plants are determined. The coefficient of intra-specific competitive intensity of the total yield-density equation is found to increase with growth and not vary significantly with nutrient availability. Increased supply of nutrients lead to an increase in Specific Leaf Area (SLA), Stem Weight Fraction (SWF) and light-saturated maximal photosynthetic rate (pmax), whereas Leaf Weight Fraction (LWF) decline with nutrient availability. Nutrient availability does not affect Leaf Area Ratio (LAR), Relative Growth Rate (RGR), Unit Leaf Rate (ULR), or the coefficient of variation of total individual weight. Under low nutrient conditions, plants allocate more dry matter to leaves than to stems, in order to maintain the quality of the leaves and the consequent activity of photosynthesis. Under high nutrient conditions, leaves have high SLA and can maintain high pmax because of high nitrogen concentration in them. Such leaves with high SLA construct a crowded canopy, leading to severe shoot competition. Under such conditions, plants allocate more dry matter to stems, resulting in less crowded canopy architecture with growth. Therefore, the intensity of competition under high nutrient conditions becomes similar to that under low nutrient conditions, with growth.

Keywords: biomass allocation, intra-specific competition, nutrient availability, photosynthesis

Suggested Citation

Haraguchi, Akira and Yokozawa, Masayuki and Toda, Motomu and Hara, Toshihiko, Effects of Soil Nutrients on Competition and Morphological Plasticity in Impatiens Balsamina L. Population (July 30, 2009). The IUP Journal of Environmental Sciences, Vol. III, No. 3, pp. 7-23, August 2009, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1441194

Akira Haraguchi (Contact Author)

The University of Kitakyushu ( email )

Kitakyusyu
Japan

Masayuki Yokozawa

National Institute of Agro-Environmental Sciences ( email )

Tsukuba
Ibaraki Prefecture 3058604
Japan

Motomu Toda

Hokkaido University ( email )

Sapporo 0600819
Japan

Toshihiko Hara

Hokkaido University ( email )

Sapporo 0600819
Japan

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