Arid Zone Research ›› 2023, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (1): 102-110.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2023.01.11

• Plant Ecology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Responses of seedling growth and biomass allocation of Malus sieversii to precipitation amount and precipitation interval

ZHANG Zongfang(),XU Jiang,SHI Xiaojun()   

  1. College of Life Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2022-05-21 Revised:2022-07-12 Online:2023-01-15 Published:2023-02-24

Abstract:

This study aimed to reveal the effects of different precipitation amount and precipitation interval on the growth of Malus sieversii seedlings. A two-factor control experiment was set up based on the average annual precipitation amount and precipitation interval in the experimental site. The three variations of precipitation amount were as follows: W (precipitation amount), W- (15% decrease of precipitation amount), and W+ (15% increase of precipitation amount). The two precipitation intervals were as follows: T (precipitation interval of 4 days) and T+ (precipitation interval of 8 days). Results showed that (1) under the same precipitation interval treatment, seedling basal diameter, leaf number, and above-and under-ground biomass increased with the increase in precipitation amount; (2) under the same precipitation amount treatment, T+ treatment can promote the elongation of the main roots and increase the root/shoot ratio; and (3) compared with W treatment, the relative growth rates of above-ground, under-ground, and total biomass under W+ treatment increased by 55.42%, 20.75%, and 34.43%, respectively. Prolonging the interval of precipitation will promote root growth and under-ground biomass accumulation of M. sieversii seedlings. Within a certain range of precipitation, the increase in precipitation amount can promote the growth and biomass accumulation of M. sieversii.

Key words: Malus sieversii, precipitation amount, precipitation interval, seedling growth