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Architecture and growth of an annual plant Chenopodium album in different light climates

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Ecological Research

Abstract

Light climates strongly influence plant architecture and mass allocation. Using the metamer concept, we quantitatively described branching architecture and growth of Chenopodium album plants grown solitarily or in a dense stand. Metamer is a unit of plant construction that is composed of an internode and the upper node with a leaf and a subtended axillary bud. The number of metamers on the main-axis stem increased with plant growth, but did not differ between solitary and dense-stand plants. Solitary plants had shorter thicker internodes with branches larger in size and number than the plant in the dense stand. Leaf area on the main stem was not different. Larger leaf area in solitary plants was due to a larger number of leaves on branches. Leaf mass per area (LMA) was higher in solitary plants. It did not significantly differ between the main axis and branches in solitary plants, whereas in the dense stand it was smaller on branches. Dry mass was allocated most to leaves in solitary plants and to stems in the dense stand in vegetative growth. Reproductive allocation was not significantly different. Branch/main stem mass ratio was higher in solitary than dense-stand plants, and leaf/stem mass ratio higher in branches than in the main axis. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) (dry mass growth per unit N uptake) was higher and light use efficiency (LUE) (dry mass growth per unit light interception) was lower in the plant grown solitarily than in the dense stand.

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Acknowledgments

We thank anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier version of this paper. Technical supports from the staff members and students of the Laboratory for Agricultural Environmental Studies, Tokyo University of Agriculture, are gratefully acknowledged. This study was supported in part by the Grants-in-Aid from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to TH (no. 17370008, 20370015).

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Author notes

  1. Hisae Nagashima

    Present address: Graduate School of Life Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Agricultural Development, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, 156-8502, Japan

    Eriko Nishimura, Emi Suzaki, Mami Irie, Hisae Nagashima & Tadaki Hirose

Authors
  1. Eriko Nishimura
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  2. Emi Suzaki
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  3. Mami Irie
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  4. Hisae Nagashima
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  5. Tadaki Hirose
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Correspondence to Tadaki Hirose.

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Nishimura, E., Suzaki, E., Irie, M. et al. Architecture and growth of an annual plant Chenopodium album in different light climates. Ecol Res 25, 383–393 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-009-0666-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-009-0666-6

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