Wheat and white lupin differ in root proliferation and phosphorus use efficiency under heterogeneous soil P supply

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Contents Vol 62(6)

doi:10.1071/CP10386

Plant Sciences, Sustainable Farming Systems & Food Quality

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Protocols in ecological and environmental plant physiology

Wheat and white lupin differ in root proliferation and phosphorus use efficiency under heterogeneous soil P supply

Qifu Ma ^A ^B ^C ^D, Zed Rengel ^A ^B and Kadambot H. M. Siddique ^A

^A The UWA Institute of Agriculture (M082), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
^B School of Earth and Environment (M087), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
^C Current address: School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
^D Corresponding author. Email: Q.Ma@murdoch.edu.au

Crop and Pasture Science 62(6) 467-473 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/CP10386
Submitted: 7 December 2010 Accepted: 6 May 2011 Published: 7 July 2011





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Abstract

Heterogeneity of soil nutrients, particularly phosphorus (P), is widespread in modern agriculture due to increased adoption of no-till farming, but P-use efficiency and related physiological processes in plants grown in soils with variable distribution of nutrients are not well documented. In a glasshouse column experiment, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) were subjected to 50 mg P/kg at 7–10 cm depth (hotspot P) or 5 mg P/kg in the whole profile (uniform P), with both treatments receiving the same amount of P. Measurements were made of plant growth, gas exchange, P uptake, and root distribution. Plants with hotspot P supply had more biomass and P content than those with uniform P supply. The ratios of hotspot to uniform P supply for shoot parameters, but not for root parameters, were lower in L. albus than wheat, indicating that L. albus was better able than wheat to acquire and utilise P from low-P soil. Cluster roots in L. albus were enhanced by low shoot P concentration but suppressed by high shoot P concentration. Soil P supply decreased root thickness and the root-to-shoot ratio in wheat but had little effect on L. albus. The formation of cluster roots in low-P soil and greater proliferation and surface area of roots in the localised, P-enriched zone in L. albus than in wheat would increase plant P use in heterogeneous soils. L. albus also used proportionally less assimilated carbon than wheat for root growth in response to soil P deficiency. The comparative advantage of each strategy by wheat and L. albus for P-use efficiency under heterogeneous P supply may depend on the levels of P in the enriched v. low-P portions of the root-zone and other soil constraints such as water, nitrogen, or potassium supply.

Additional keywords:cluster roots, growth, Lupinus albus, P uptake, Triticum aestivum.

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