Abstract
At least 16 nutrient elements are required by plants for growth and survival, but the factors affecting element concentration and their temporal evolution are poorly understood. The objective was to investigate i) element concentration pattern in winter wheat as affected by crop developmental stage and weather, and ii) whether, in the short term, element stoichiometry reflects the type of preceding crop. We assessed the temporal trajectories of element concentration pattern (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Mn, Fe, Cu, Na, Zn) across the life cycle (from seed to seed) of winter wheat field-grown in cool-temperate Sweden during two years with contrasting weather and when cultivated in monoculture or after different non-wheat preceding crops. We found strong influence of developmental stage on concentration pattern, with the greatest deviation from grain concentrations found in plants at the start of stem elongation in spring. Inter-annual differences in weather affected stoichiometry, but no evidence was found for a short-term preceding–crop effect on element stoichiometry. Winter wheat element stoichiometry is similar in actively growing plant tissues and seeds. Nitrogen exerts a strong influence on the concentration pattern for all elements. Three groups of elements with concentrations changing in concert were identified.
Highlights
Sept Nov Jan Mar May Jul element availabilities in combination with plant uptake capacity and growth during the period between the initial seedling stage in autumn and the start of the active growth in spring
We explored the following main hypotheses: (1) Element concentration pattern varies across developmental stages, with the largest deviation from seed stoichiometry in early spring, when element concentrations should be much higher than in seeds but thereafter decline to or below the corresponding element concentrations in seed; (2) Element concentration pattern reflects weather; (3) Among all the elements, N has the strongest influence on the element concentration pattern
The paper reports for the first time the element stoichiometry and temporal trajectories of the concentrations of 11 nutrient elements across the whole life cycle of a plant
Summary
Sept Nov Jan Mar May Jul element availabilities in combination with plant uptake capacity and growth during the period between the initial seedling stage in autumn and the start of the active growth in spring. We explored the following main hypotheses: (1) Element concentration pattern varies across developmental stages, with the largest deviation from seed stoichiometry in early spring (before the initiation of main growth and nutrient uptake), when element concentrations should be much higher than in seeds but thereafter decline to or below the corresponding element concentrations in seed; (2) Element concentration pattern reflects weather; (3) Among all the elements, N has the strongest influence on the element concentration pattern. The aims and hypotheses were addressed by assessing temporal trajectories of element concentration pattern across the life cycle of winter wheat, grown in the field over two years with contrasting weather (Fig. 1), and as affected by different preceding crops (Table 1)
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