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Phosphorous Uptake and Concentration of Timothy Genotypes under Varying N Applications
Author(s) -
Bélanger G.,
Brégard A.,
Michaud R.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci2002.2044
Subject(s) - forage , biology , phosphorus , zoology , dry matter , population , phleum , biomass (ecology) , dry weight , field experiment , horticulture , agronomy , botany , chemistry , demography , organic chemistry , sociology
ABSTRACT Improving P uptake in timothy ( Phleum pratense L.) would reduce excess soil phosphate while producing forage with greater P nutritional value. A strong relationship exists between N and P concentration in plants, and we hypothesized that genotypes characterized for contrasting N concentration or uptake may also exhibit contrasting P concentration and uptake. Two timothy populations derived from divergent selection for high and low forage N concentration were studied in Experiment 1. These two populations were also studied in Experiment 2, along with seven half‐sib families identified in a field study as having contrasting dry matter (DM) yield and N concentration. In both experiments, a reference population, ‘Champ’, was included and plants were grown in a growth room with varying N rates. Independent of applied N, the genotypes differed for P concentration, P uptake, and P to N ratio (P/N), in forage and total biomass, as well as for leaf P concentration, leaf weight ratio (LWR), root weight ratio (RWR) and efficiency of P uptake for each unit of root biomass (PUPE root ). Averaged across N rates in Experiment 2, forage P concentration among genotypes ranged from 4.1 to 5.1 g P kg −1 DM, while forage P uptake ranged from 10.0 to 14.6 mg P per plant. Variations in P uptake and concentration were related to genotypic differences in DM yield, leaf P concentration, LWR, and RWR. Phosphorus concentration and uptake decreased under N stress. We conclude that variation exists among timothy genotypes for P concentration and uptake.