Ecophysiological Evidence for the Competition Strategy of Two Psammophytes Artemisia halodendron and A. frigida in Horqin Sandy Land, Nei Mongol

Gas exchange, water relations and leaf chemical characteristics were examined of twodominant psammophytes: Artemisia frigida Willd and A halodendron Turcz. ex Bess in Horqin sandy land, NeiMongol, China under different water regimes. The measurements were conducted by submitting the plantsto five different irrigation levels. A. fTigida was characterized by lower photosynthetic rate (Pn), lowertranspiration rate ( TR and lower shoot water potential (ψuw) relative to A. halodendron. Foliage of A frigdahad higher values of relative water deficit (RWD), bound water content (BWC), ratio of bound water contentto free water content (BWC/FWC) and integrated drought-resistant index (DI than that of A. halodendron.Water relations differed significantly between two species in response to soil water availability. ψw, BWCand BWC/FWC ratio of A halodendron exhibited large variation with gradual decrease of soil moisture.However, in terms of these parameters, A. fRIGIDA was characterized by higher capacity of water holding anddrought tolerance relative to A halodendron. Proline and total soluble sugar contents of A frigida and Ahalodendron tended to increase with decrease of soil moisture and the former had a larger increaseamplitude than the latter. This shows that A frigida has a higher osmotic regulation ability than A halodendron.Under the extreme drought conditions, ψw, RWD, BWC and BWC/FWC of two species were approximate,but soluble proteins degraded largely. A large amount of accumulation of organic matter, proline and totalsoluble sugars were observed in both A halodendron and A frigida. The increase in proline and total solublesugar contents and soluble protein degradation of A frigida far exceeded those of A. halodendron. Webelieve that the accumulated materials at this moment are mostly of nutrient substances available for therecovery of plants after the drought. This is one of the reasons why A halodendron plants died while Afrigida plants survived under extremely drought condition. Our results suggest that these ecophysiologicalfeatures of A frigida are favorable to its growth in the fixed sandy land compared with A halodendron, whichoften lost its dominance due to weak competition for water sources under lower soil water availability andare major factors resulting in replacement of A. halodendron by A. frigida in the later stage of sandyvegetation succession in Horqin.

Response of Watermelon to Gravel-Mulch and Supplementary Irrigation: Yield, Water Use Efficiency and Root Distribution

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of supplementary irrigation on watermelon (Citullus lanatus) yield, water-use efficiency (WUE) and root distribution in gravel-mulched field in northwest Loess Plateau, China, during 2001 and 2002 growing seasons. The results showed that gravel mulch significantly improved seedling emergence, increased yield and WUE, and alleviated the influence of drought on plant growth. Regardless of gravel mulch application, supplementary irrigation increased watermelon yields, average fruit weight and number of fruit, especially yield increased as the amount of irrigation increased (P<0.05). Generally, WUE of irrigated treatments were higher than that of non-irrigation treatment in gravel-mulched field. The effect of water supply on root distribution was different in two years. In 2001, average root length density (RLD) and root weight density (RWD) whole the soil profile increased. In 2002, however, RLD and RWD decreased as water supply increased. The average RLD and RWD in 2001 were significantly higher than those in 2002. Maybe we can interpret the phenomenon with the theory that there is a need to optimize root distribution (in terms of water relations) and aboveground biomass for a given water supply.The yield may not depend as much on root growth as on the amount of water required at critical stages. A significant effect of soil depth on RLD and RWD were observed in both years, but did not rapidly decrease with depth.