Abstract

The seasonal dynamics of uptake, partitioning and redistribution of dry matter, N, P, K, S, Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu by the cormaceous plant Ixia flexuosa were studied in pot culture at Perth, WA. Dry matter and P, N, K, Zn and Cu were redistributed from the mother corm with about 90 per cent net efficiency: there was no net redistribution of Ca, Na, Fe or Mn. The efficiency of redistribution from the leafy shoot to fruits and the new season's corm was 80 per cent for N and P, 24-49 per cent for K, Cu and Zn, and 0-15 per cent for Na, Fe, Ca, Mn, Cl, Mg, S and dry matter. Redistribution from the mother corm and vegetative organs could have supplied the replacement corm, cormlets and fruits with 32-53 per cent of their S, K, P, N, Cu and Zn, and 11-25 per cent of their Ca, Cl, Mn, Mg and dry matter. The mature replacement corm had over 60 per cent of the plant's N and P, 25-50 per cent of its dry matter, Zn, Cu, Mg, K and Cl, but less than 20 per cent of its Ca, Na, Fe and Mn. Each plant produced an average of 12 cormlets; these had 35 per cent of the dry matter and 23-47 per cent of the amount of a particular nutrient in the new season's corms. Fruits had less than 16 per cent of the dry matter and each mineral in the mature plant. Rates of mineral intake by Ixia were much lower than reported for crop plants, and may be related to the long growing season of the species.

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