Open Access

ARTICLE

N-Exponential Fertilization Could Affect the Growth and Nitrogen Accumulation of Metasequoia glyptostroboides Seedling in a Greenhouse Environment

Jiasen Wu¹, Genping Tong², Rui Guo², Zihao Ye¹, Jin Jin¹, Haiping Lin^1,3,*

1 Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Carbon Cycling in Forest Ecosystems and Carbon Sequestration, Hangzhou, 311300, China
2 Qingliangfeng National Nature Reserve Administration, Lin’an, 311300, China
3 State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Hangzhou, 311300, China

* Corresponding Author: Haiping Lin. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: The Effect of Soil Quality Degradation on the Plant Growth, Quality and Food Safety in Subtropical Agroforestry Ecosystems)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2022, 91(10), 2211-2220. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.021382

Received 11 January 2022; Accepted 23 February 2022; Issue published 30 May 2022

Abstract

Metasequoia glyptostroboides (M. glyptostroboides) is a unique plant species related to relic flora in China. It plays a positive role in afforestation and its long-term protection with high paleoclimate research value. However, due to the nutrients-supply deficiency, it is a big challenge to cultivate the high-quality seedlings of M. glyptostroboides. In this study, a pot experiment in a greenhouse environment was carried out to identify the effect of N-exponential fertilization on the growth and nutrient distribution of M. glyptostroboides seedling. The M. glyptostroboides rooted seedlings with 12-month growth were chosen. Different N fertilizer levels with conventional fertilization (CF: 5.0 g seedling⁻¹), exponential fertilization including EF1, EF2, EF3 and EF4 were determined. The relevant growth indexes were measured after 210-day growth. The results indicated that non-significant differences in seedlings’ height and ground diameter were found among the above treatments (P > 0.05); At the same time, N-exponential fertilization promoted the M. glyptostroboides’s biomass in different organs (P < 0.05), with the maximum total biomass under EF3 treatment. The N accumulation in root and stem of the N-exponential fertilization treatments were increased in to some extent (P < 0.05). The maximum N accumulation was also found under EF3 treatment. Therefore, steady-state nutrition and superior growth performance of M. glyptostroboides could be obtained by N-exponential fertilization of 5.0 g cutting⁻¹.

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