Abstract
Waterlogging presents one of the greatest constraints for agricultural crops. In order to elucidate the influences of waterlogging stress on the growth of oilseed rape, a pot experiment was performed investigating the impact of waterlogging on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) accumulation in oilseed rape, and mineral N and available P profiles and enzyme activities of soils. The experiment included waterlogging treatments lasting 3 (I), 6 (II), and 9 (III) days, and a control treatment without waterlogging (CK). Results showed that waterlogging lasting 3 or more days significantly depressed the growth of oilseed rape, and prolonged the recovery time of plant growth with the period of flooding. Waterlogging notably influenced the N and P concentrations in plant tissues, and also affected mineral N, available P profiles, and activities of enzymes (including urease, phosphatase, invertase, and catalase) in the soils. With the exception of catalase, flooding suppressed the activity of urease, phosphatase, and invertase to varying degrees, and the longer the flooding time, the greater the suppression. The effect of waterlogging on mineral N and P profiles resulted from the altered proportions of NH4+-N and NO3--N, and the decreased available P concentrations in these soils, respectively. The effect on P was more significant than on N in both soil nutrient profile and plant utilization.
Highlights
IntroductionWaterlogging is one of the greatest constraints imposed on agricultural crops, affecting both vegetative and reproductive phases of the plant life cycle (Kumutha et al, 2008; Irfan et al, 2010; Shabala, 2011).Excess water causes a sharp decrease in soil redox potential, resulting in significant changes to the soil elemental profile (Khabaz-Saberi and Rengel, 2010; Shabala, 2011)
Soil enzymes can promote the transformation of matter and energy in soil, and the activity of soil enzymes has a close relationship with soil nutrients and their availability
The present study produced the same results, showing that waterlogging lasting for 3 or more days significantly depressed the growth of seedling winter oilseed rape
Summary
Waterlogging is one of the greatest constraints imposed on agricultural crops, affecting both vegetative and reproductive phases of the plant life cycle (Kumutha et al, 2008; Irfan et al, 2010; Shabala, 2011).Excess water causes a sharp decrease in soil redox potential, resulting in significant changes to the soil elemental profile (Khabaz-Saberi and Rengel, 2010; Shabala, 2011). Waterlogging induces a significant accumulation of organic substances produced as a result of anaerobic metabolism in both plants and rhizosphere microorganisms in soils (Shabala, 2011). In southern China, oilseed rape is planted as a rotation crop after rice has been harvested, which means young seedlings are exposed to the moist paddy soil, and rainfall during the seedling stage leads to temporarily waterlogged soils. This is really problematic for oilseed rape production, due to the sensitivity of oilseed rape to waterlogging stress (Zou et al, 2014). Many studies report that the growth and yield of crops such as cotton (Bange et al, 2004), wheat (Jiang et al, 2008; Sharma et al, 2010), maize (Souza et al, 2011), and soybean (Rhine et al, 2010) have been significantly depressed by waterlogging stress
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