Compensatory growth and understory soil stoichiometric features of Hippophae rhamnoides at different stubble heights

Xin Wang; Yuefeng Guo; Wei Qi; Li Zhen; Yunfeng Yao; Fucang Qin

doi:10.7717/peerj.13363

Compensatory growth and understory soil stoichiometric features of Hippophae rhamnoides at different stubble heights

PeerJ. 2022 Jul 14:10:e13363. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13363. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xin Wang¹, Yuefeng Guo¹, Wei Qi², Li Zhen³, Yunfeng Yao¹, Fucang Qin¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
² Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Water Conservancy Development Center, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Water Conservancy Development Center, Hohot, Inner Mongolia, China.
³ College of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, College of forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.

Abstract

Background: This study was aimed to explore the compensatory growth ability and influence mechanism of Hippophae rhamnoides at the decaying phase in feldspathic sandstone areas of Ordos, and clarify the stubble height when the compensatory growth ability of H. rhamnoides was the strongest.

Methods: The H. rhamnoides forests in the decaying phase from an exposed feldspathic sandstone zone of Ordos were chosen. The compensatory growth ability of H. rhamnoides at stubble height of 0 cm (S₁), 10 cm (S₂), 15 cm (S₃), 20 cm (S₄) and control (CK) was investigated with H. rhamnoides forests at the decaying stage in the exposed feldspathic sandstone areas of Ordos. Relationships of compensatory growth ability of H. rhamnoides and understory soil properties with understory soil stoichiometric features as well as the response mechanism to stubble height were explored.

Results: (1) Overcompensatory growth of H. rhamnoides in feldspathic sandstone areas occurred at all stubble heights. Especially, the plant height compensation index (1.45) and biomass compensation index (1.25) at the stubble height of 15 cm were both larger compared with other stubbling treatments. These results indicate the stubble height of 15 cm can well promote the growth of the ground part of H. rhamnoides. (2) All stubble heights significantly affected the contents and eco-stoichiometric ratios of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) in understory soils, but the influence rules differed. SOC, TN, and TP contents at all stubble heights were larger than those of the control, and maximized at the stubble height of 15 cm. The carbon(C): phosphorus(P) ratio, and nitrogen (N):(P) ratio after stubbling treatments were all lower compared with the control, and minimized to 19.52 and 1.84 respectively at the stubble height of 15 cm. (3) The understory C:N:P stoichiometric ratio of H. rhamnoides in feldspathic sandstone areas is jointly affected by compensatory growth, stubble height, and soil physicochemical properties. The total explanation rate determined from RDA is 93.1%. The understory soil eco-stoichiometric ratio of H. rhamnoides is mainly affected by soil moisture content (contribution of 87.6%) and total porosity (7.9%), indicating soil moisture content is the most influential factor. The findings will offer some new clues for eco-construction and theoretically underlie soil-water loss administration.

Keywords: Compensation growth; Feldspathic sandstone zones; Hippophae rhamnoides; Soil stoichiometry.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Carbon
Hippophae* / physiology
Nitrogen / analysis
Phosphorus
Soil* / chemistry

Substances

Soil
Carbon
Nitrogen
Phosphorus

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31960329), the Autonomous Region Application Technology Research and Development Fund Program (2021GG0085 and 2019GG004), and the Inner Mongolia Ordos Application Research and Technology Development Project (2021YY-106-55). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.