Vitis Idaea Research Articles

Nitrogen and Cation Nutrition of Three Ecologically Different Plant Species

AbstractExperiments on nutrient requirements of the ecologically very different plant species Betula verrucosa Ehrh., Cucumis sativus L., and Vaccinium vitis idaea L. are discussed with regard to the nitrogen and cation nutrition. The nutrient solution technique used allows a strict control of nitrogen source and cation uptake at maximum growth rate.The nitrogen sources were equally efficient except for growth reductions in cucumber at ammonium nutrition. Increase in tissue pH resulting from a high total uptake rate of NH4+ and other cations is probably an important factor in ammonium toxicity. No evidence was found for the concept of “ammonium plants”; but at high nitrate supply to Vaccinium a high cation uptake may account for decrease in growth rate.No large or fundamental differences in cation or anion requirements among the species were found; the difference in ion balance (C — A) in relation to dry matter depends mainly on differences in xeromorphy.In cucumber, the relations between cation and nitrate nutrition are in agreement with models proposed in the literature. Vaccinium and birch have a cation uptake and retention of high efficiency at low nutrient availability and ammonium nutrition indicating independence between cation and nitrate nutrition in these species.The properties found are regarded as significant and functional in relation to the ecological character of the species.

Mineral Nutrient Requirements ofVaccinium vitis idaeaandV. myrtillus

AbstractThe mineral nutrient requirements ofVaccinium vitis idaeaL. andV. myrtillusL. have been studied. It is found that the optimum nutrient proportions are similar to those of birch seedlings except for a relatively low potassium requirement. The nitrogen sources ammonium and nitrate are both usable at low concentrations. A system with both sources present seems preferable. The ammonium uptake is then much more rapid than the nitrate uptake. The optimum total concentration falls within the low salt range and is about the same as found for birch seedlings, but the sensitivity to high salt concentrations is more pronounced in the Vaccinium species. A very marked characteristic of the nutrient absorption is the rapid calcium uptake. The results are discussed in relation to similar experiments with birch and cucumber seedlings, representing species with a wide or calcareous ecological adaptation.

1082. Phenolic constituents of Vaccinium vitis idaea L

1082. Phenolic constituents of Vaccinium vitis idaea L

Growth and Plant Nutrient Concentration in Hylocomium Proliferum (L.) Lindb. in Relation to Tree Canopy

This paper describes, part of an investigation in which an attempt has been made to elucidate the relationships between the growth of plants in a community and environmental factors. Here we shall deal only with the total annual growth of a plant community, and with the average concentrations of nutrients in the members of the community, within certain areas. Variations in size, in rate of growth and in nutritional status among individual plants have also been investigated, and in a further publication some relationships will be discussed between environmental factors and these variations, which are closely connected with the structure of the plant community. On account of their relatively simple structure the moss carpets often found in spruce forests were chosen for study. It was already known that these moss carpets present interesting ecological problems since STALFELT (1937 a) had observed that they obtain very little of their water requirements from the substratum. ROMELL (1939) has suggested that they obtain supplies of plant nutrients from the rain water Teachings of forest litter (needles and blueberry leaves). The material was collected from a spruce forest situated in eastern Uppland near the Baltic coast (590 52' lat. N.). The forest also contained a few pine and birch trees. Samples were taken towards the end of May and again towards the end of July from the closed community of the carpet of mosses. All samples were taken from patches where Hylocomium proliferum was dominant, and were selected from within an area 15 X 15 m, lying partly beneath the spruce crowns but also comprising a. small clearing among the trees. The field layer was mostly sparse and consisted of scattered Vaccinium inyrtillus and V. vitis idaea. The light intensities, as shown in Figs. 1 & 2,