Abstract
Accumulation and redistribution of nitrogen were examined during the shoot growth ofTernstroemia gymnanthera, a warm-temperate evergreen broadleaf tree species. Measurements and analyses were confined to the shoot units comprising 2-year-old, 1-year-old and developing current shoots with the foliage of respective ages.
Budbreak occurred in early May and nitrogen was rapidly translocated into curent shoots with the progress of their growth. In all of the old organs of the shoot unit, nitrogen concentrations decreased gradually from the time of budbreak to early July. During this period, those old organs supplied more than 60% of the amount of nitrogen needed for the developing current shoots within the same shoot unit. The rest was supplied from the basal organs outside the shoot units comprising branches older than 2 years, stem and roots, by redistribution and/or by absorption from soil. Old leaves, mainly 1-year-old ones, provided about 72% of the total nitrogen derived from the old organs in the shoot units. It was concluded that the evergreen broadleaves served as a large source of nitrogen for the early shoot growth.
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Kimura, M., Suzuki, J., Tachibana, M. et al. Role of evergreen foliage in the nitrogen economy during shoot growth ofTernstroemia gymnanthera, a warm-temperate broadleaf tree. Bot Mag Tokyo 96, 75–83 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02491092
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02491092