Table II. Dry weight, root-to-shoot ratio, and elemental concentrations of shoots and roots of plants grown on varying concentrations of nutrients.
Different letters indicate significant differences among means for each nutrient either in shoots or roots (P < 0.05; Tukey test). n.a., Not assessed, as there was too little root material; ns, not significant.
| Nutrient | Treatment | Fresh Weight |
Root:Shoot Ratio | Nutrient Concentration |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoot | Root | Shoot | Root | |||
| µm added | mg plant−1 | mg g−1 | ||||
| P | 625 | 12.4 a | 2.7 a | 0.22 | 14.0 a | 13.0 a |
| 100 | 8.8 ab | 2.2 a | 0.25 | 9.8 b | 7.9 ab | |
| 50 | 7.1 b | 1.9 ab | 0.27 | 5.5 c | 7.0 b | |
| 6 µma | 0 | 1.3 b | 0.8 b | 0.61 | 1.1 d | 2.9 b |
| N | 11,400 | 10.0 ab | 2.6 a | 0.26 | 72 a | 48 a |
| 550 | 10.7 a | 3.2 a | 0.30 | 66 b | 45 a | |
| 275 | 6.2 bc | 2.3 ab | 0.37 | 48 c | 39 b | |
| 1,610 µm a | 110 | 3.1 c | 1.3 b | 0.43 | 29 d | n.a. |
| Ca | 1,500 | 12.2 c (0.73 b)b | 3.9 c (0.41 ns) | 0.32 (0.56) | 4.1 a | 2.6 ns |
| 500 | 15.9 b (0.90 ab) | 6.4 b (0.57 ns) | 0.40 (0.63) | 3.2 ab | 2.1 ns | |
| 100 | 18.9 a (1.10 a) | 8.2 a (0.52 ns) | 0.43 (0.48) | 1.5 bc | 1.9 ns | |
| 550 µma | 0 | 19.5 a (1.03 a) | 7.2 ab (0.50 ns) | 0.37 (0.49) | 1.2 c | 1.7 ns |
| K | 10,025 | 13.7 a | 3.6 a | 0.27 | 97 a | 75 a |
| 1,600 | 14.3 a | 3.3 a | 0.23 | 49 ab | 44 b | |
| 250 | 12.9 ab | 2.8 a | 0.21 | 41 b | 41 b | |
| 110 µma | 0 | 5.2 b | 1.4 b | 0.27 | 7 c | 13 b |
| Mg | 750 | 13.1 a | 4.1 a | 0.31 | 3.1 a | 1.2 a |
| 100 | 10.1 b | 2.8 b | 0.28 | 1.3 b | 0.5 b | |
| 50 | 6.3 c | 2.0 c | 0.33 | 0.9 c | 0.4 bc | |
| 25 µma | 0 | 1.8 d | 0.6 d | 0.31 | 0.4 d | 0.3 c |
| S | 750 | 11.4 a | 5.7 a | 0.50 | 10.0 a | 5.9 a |
| 50 | 11.3 a | 6.3 a | 0.56 | 8.0 b | 4.4 b | |
| 25 | 10.3 a | 6.0 a | 0.58 | 5.7 c | 3.9 c | |
| 690 µma | 0 | 6.8 b | 4.1 b | 0.60 | 3.7 d | 2.9 d |
| Fe | 75 | 9.6 ns | 2.4 a | 0.25 | 0.12 a | 4.0 ns |
| 10 | 9.4 ns | 2.6 a | 0.28 | 0.07 ab | 1.4 ns | |
| 5 | 9.1 ns | 2.4 a | 0.26 | 0.07 ab | 0.4 ns | |
| 2 µma | 0 | 1.6 ns | 0.3 b | 0.19 | 0.01 b | 0.2 ns |
| µg g−1 | ||||||
| Mn | 50 | 12.8 ab | 3.7 a | 0.29 | 310 a | 190 a |
| 1 | 13.0 a | 3.5 a | 0.27 | 24 ab | 11 ab | |
| 0.5 | 11.4 b | 3.1 a | 0.27 | 17 b | 8.9 b | |
| 130 nma | 0 | 6.8 c | 1.8 b | 0.27 | 10 b | 6.4 b |
| B | 50 | 12.2 ns | 4.3 a | 0.35 | 38 a | 30 a |
| 1 | 12.0 ns | 3.8 ab | 0.32 | 16 ab | 18 b | |
| 0.4 | 11.8 ns | 3.5 ab | 0.30 | 13 bc | 17 b | |
| 0 µma | 0 | 10.3 ns | 2.8 b | 0.27 | 10 c | 20 b |
a
The baseline concentration of the nutrient contained within the agar used for the experiment. bValues in parentheses are dry weights.