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Growth and nitrogen uptake of jack pine seedlings in response to exponential fertilization and weed control in reclaimed soil

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Abstract

We evaluated the impact of exponential fertilization in nursery and weed removal in the field on growth and nitrogen (N) retranslocation and uptake from the soil of jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) seedlings planted on an oil sands reclaimed soil. Exponential fertilization is a method of supplying nutrients at an exponential rate to achieve constant internal nutrient concentrations in seedlings without changing their size during their growth in the nursery. The N retranslocation in seedlings was traced using 15N isotope labeling. Exponential fertilization increased nutrient reserve in the seedling in nursery production, and increased height (P = 0.003), root collar diameter (P < 0.001), total biomass (P < 0.001), and N content (P < 0.001) of seedlings at the end of first growing season in the field growth. Conventionally fertilized seedlings allocated a greater percent of biomass to roots than to current-year needles. The 15N isotope analysis showed that 59 to 82% of total N demand of new growth was met by retranslocation from old tissues. Exponential fertilization increased N retranslocation by 147% (P < 0.001) and N uptake from the soil by 175% (P = 0.012). Weed removal marginally increased (P = 0.077) N uptake from the soil but decreased (P = 0.046) N retranslocation with no net effect on total N content in new tissues. We conclude that exponential fertilization improves the early growth of jack pine and can help improve revegetation in reclaiming disturbed oil sands sites.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support of the Land Reclamation International Graduate School (LRIGS), which was funded through a CREATE (Collaborative Research and Training Experience) grant from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for this research is highly appreciated. We would like to acknowledge the Environmental Reclamation Research Group (ERRG) of the Canadian Oil Sands Network for Research and Development (CONRAD) for partial funding. The ERRG funding includes financial support from Shell Canada Energy, Suncor Energy Inc., Imperial Oil Resources Ltd. and Total E&P Canada Ltd. We would like to thank Suncor Energy Inc. for logistic support. The help of Dr. Ghulam Murtaza Jamro, Ms. Stephanie Ibsen, and Ms. Kangyi Lou in the field and laboratory is greatly appreciated. We also thank Drs. Woo-Jung Choi, Francis Salifu, Xiao Tan, Carmela Arevalo, Phil Comeau and Douglass Jacobs for discussions and guidance and Ms. Kangyi Lou for her constructive comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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  1. Land Reclamation International Graduate School (LRIGS), Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, 442 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E3, Canada

    Prem Pokharel, Jin-Hyeob Kwak & Scott X. Chang

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  1. Prem Pokharel
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  2. Jin-Hyeob Kwak
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Correspondence to Scott X. Chang.

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Pokharel, P., Kwak, JH. & Chang, S.X. Growth and nitrogen uptake of jack pine seedlings in response to exponential fertilization and weed control in reclaimed soil. Biol Fertil Soils 53, 701–713 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-017-1213-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-017-1213-1

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