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Arid Land Geography ›› 2021, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (6): 1750-1762.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000–6060.2021.06.23

• Biology and Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Response of stoichiometry of desert Lycium ruthenicum to N and P addition levels and ratios

LI Jinxia(),CHEN Nianlai(),SUN Xiaomei,LI Fakui,YU Jieru   

  1. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu, China
  • Received:2021-01-05 Revised:2021-08-07 Online:2021-11-25 Published:2021-12-03
  • Contact: Nianlai CHEN E-mail:lijinxia10000@163.com;chennl@gsau.edu.cn

Abstract:

The stoichiometric features of plants are important for elucidating the response of biogeochemical and ecological methods to global change. Studying the effects of different nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) addition treatments on the ecological stoichiometric characteristics of desert plants can help understand the response of plants to environmental changes from the perspective of stoichiometry and provide ideas for predicting plants and nutrients interactions in the context of global change. Therefore, we used Lycium ruthenicum as the material and set up three N, P supply ratios and supply levels and examined the effects of the supply ratio and level on the C:N:P stoichiometric features of various organs. The results indicated that: (1) Nitrogen and phosphorus addition had little impact on the carbon (C) content in various organs. The content of N in the fine roots considerably increased with a rise in N, P supply level. With the increase in N, P supply ratio, the content of N in nonroot organs increased and the content of P in the root system decreased considerably. The interaction between the proportion of N, P supply level and the supply ratio greatly affected the N, P content in roots and fruits as well as the P content in stems. (2) The low N/P treatment decreased organ C/P and increased C/N, whereas the high N/P treatment was the opposite. The N/P of each organ was maintained at a relatively stable level, Lycium ruthenicum offset the change in environmental element stoichiometry in a conservative nutrient utilization method by altering the nutrient preservation strategy. (3) Stoichiometric characteristics reflected organ differences. The content of N and N/P in leaves was considerably higher than that in other organs. The content of C/N in stems, C and P in coarse roots, as well as the content of P in fruits was the highest. The NP and N/P contents in fine roots were also higher. Compared with C, metabolically active organs (leaves, fine roots, fruits) require more N and P than structural organs (stems, coarse roots). From the perspective of elements and plant functions, the research findings were helpful in better understanding the response of desert plant stoichiometric properties to nitrogen and phosphorus addition.

Key words: stoichiometry characteristics, N, P supply level, N, P supply ratio, Lycium ruthenicum