The Effect of Nutrient Regime on Biomass Allocation and Nutrient Accumulation in Red Oak Seedlings

Abstract

ln Spring 1993, red oaks (Quercus rubra) were propagated from seed. From June through October, plants were fertilized twice daily with 1.4 liters of 20N–10P–20K water-soluble fertilizer solution at concentrations of 0, 25, 50, 100, 200, or 400 ppm N. Destructive harvests were conducted six times at intervals from June through Dec. 1993. Leaf area, stem height, root length, root area, and dry weights of roots, stem, and leaves of harvested plants were measured and tissue nutrient concentrations were analyzed. There was no relationship between whole-plant N concentration and total plant biomass (r = 0). However, there were some linear relationships between total plant N and total plant biomass for an individual fertilizer treatment. Biomass allocation between root, stems, and leaves was very consistent across all fertilizer levels at any one harvest. Percent total N in roots, stems, and leaves also was fairly consistent across fertilizer levels. This was true at each harvest, except the first two, in which a greater percentage of total N was partitioned to the leaves and a smaller percentage was partitioned to the roots in the high (100, 200, 400 ppm N) fertilizer treatments. Whole-plant K concentrations increased with increasing fertilizer level, but decreased over time. Whole-plant P concentrations increased linearly with whole-plant dry weight in the higher (100, 200, 400 ppm N) fertilizer treatments.