ISSN:
1573-5036
Keywords:
Isotope discrimination
;
Macropitilium atropurpureum
;
Nitrogen fixation
;
Nitrogen transfer
;
Panicum coloratum
;
Rhizobia
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
Summary Isotope dilution provides a method for measuring plant competition for mineral N and transfer of biologically fixed N from a legume to a grass. A plant growth medium was enriched with15N, and used to grow Siratro (Macropitilium atropurpureum D.C. Urb.) and Kleingrass 75 (Panicum coloratum L.) in 20 liter pots for 98 days in a glasshouse. The plants were grown in pure stand and in mixtures. When grown in 50∶50 mixture the grass obtained 59% of the labelled N and the legume obtained 41%. The grass produced nearly as much root mass as the legume even though biomass of the shoots were less than half that of the legume. Reducing the proportion of either plant species in the mixture reduced the proportion of the mineralized N absorbed by that species. The shoots of the grass were significantly more enriched (1.166 atom%15N excess) than the roots (1.036). The grass received 12% of its N as biologically fixed N from the legume.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02375137
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