Abstract
Plants and soil interactions greatly affect ecosystems processes and properties. Ecological stoichiometry is an effective means to explore the C, N, P correlation between plants and soil and the relationship between plant growth and nutrient supply. Serious soil erosion on China’s Loess Plateau has further barrenness the soil. Fertilization solves the problem of ecosystem degradation by improving soil fertility and regulating the ecological stoichiometric between soil and plants. No fertilization (CK), nitrogen fertilization (N), phosphorus fertilization (P) and N and P combined fertilization (NP) treatments were set in an alfalfa grassland. Organic carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) nutrients and their stoichiometry were measured in shoot and soil. P and NP fertilization increased shoot C concentration (3.12%, 0.91%), and all fertilization decreased shoot N concentration (6.96%). The variation of shoot C and N concentrations resulted in a greater increase in shoot C:N under the fertilization treatment than that under CK (8.24%). Most fertilization treatments increased shoot P concentration (4.63%) at each cut, which induced a decrease of shoot C:P. Shoot N:P of most treatments were greater than 23, but it was lower under N and NP fertilization than that under CK. Fertilization only increased soil C in 2014, but had no effect on soil N. Soil P content was significantly higher under P fertilization in 2014 (34.53%), and all fertilization in the second cut of 2015 (124.32%). Shoot and soil C:P and N:P having the opposite changes to shoot and soil P, respectively. Our results suggest that the change of P after fertilization largely drove the changes of stoichiometric. The growth of alfalfa in the Loess Plateau was severely restricted by P. It is an effective method to increase the biomass of alfalfa by increasing the addition of N or NP fertilizer to alleviate P limitation.
Highlights
Plants and soil interactions greatly affect ecosystems processes and properties
Changes in plant growth rate lead to differences in nutrient demand, soil heterogeneity leads to differences in nutrient supply, and differences in element uptake by plants in response to different environments all affect nutrient content and distribution in the plant–soil system, which increase the complexity of the nutrient relationship within the s ystem[19,20]
Nutrient stoichiometry could be used as a tool for analyzing the balance between the nutrition elements required by organisms and affecting nutrient c ycling[12]
Summary
Plants and soil interactions greatly affect ecosystems processes and properties. Ecological stoichiometry is an effective means to explore the C, N, P correlation between plants and soil and the relationship between plant growth and nutrient supply. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizers, either individually or in combination, improve primary productivity in most terrestrial ecosystems[5] These fertilizers can change the proportion of the N and P structure in the soil, regulate the growth strategies and nutrient dynamics of plants in response to these soil nutrients, and affect plant p roductivity[6,7]. It is of great significance to study the effects of N and P supply on the shoot-soil stoichiometry of alfalfa grassland, for improving the soil nutrient balance, alleviating nutrient limitation in alfalfa growth, and to improving its adaptability and productivity in this infertile and arid region
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