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Hydroponics: A Versatile System to Study Nutrient Allocation and Plant Responses to Nutrient Availability and Exposure to Toxic Elements
Published on: July 13, 2016
The front-heavy and back-light nitrogen application mode to increase stem and leaf biomass significantly improved
Wei Yang1, Huiping Dai2, Lidia Skuza3
1Key Laboratory of Pollution Ecology and Environment Engineering, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Abstract:
Differently from the goal of fertilization in agricultural production to enhance the yield of seeds, the aim of present work focused on cadmium (Cd) phytoremediation is to increase the stem and leaf biomasses as much as possible due to they are the main organs of a hyperaccumulator extracting risk elements from soil. This experiment compared the effects of different nitrogen (N) application modes on Cd accumulation from soil by Solanum nigrum L. The results showed that stem and leaf biomasses of S. nigrum reached the maximum values with the N fertilizer application at Mode 4 (50 %: 40 %: 10 %, i.e. the front-heavy and back-light application of nitrogen fertilizer). In particular, application of N as (NH4)2SO4 and CH4N2O produced the greatest increases in S. nigrum biomasses compared to the control (CK2) with no N fertilizer. N concentration of S. nigrum and N fertilizer productivity under its different treatments were consistent with the above results. Similarly, Cd capacities were the highest in shoots of S. nigrum in Mode 4 either due to their Cd concentration without affected by N fertilizers. Thus, Mode 4 N application showed very important scientific merit for effective Cd phytoextraction in the real conditions.
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