Effects of soil nitrate:ammonium ratio on plant carbon:nitrogen ratio and growth rate of Artemisia sphaerocephala seedlings

Can soil nitrate： ammonium ratios influence plant carbon： nitrogen ratios of the early succession plant？ Can plant carbon： nitrogen ratios limit the plant growth in early succession？ To address these two questions, we performed a two-factor （soil nitrate： ammonium ratio and plant density） randomized block design and a uniform-precision rotatable central composite design pot experiments to examine the relationships between soil nitrate： ammonium ratios, the carbon： nitrogen ratios and growth rate of Artemisia sphaerocephala seedlings. Under adequate nutrient status, both soil nitrate： ammonium ratios and plant density influenced the carbon： nitrogen ratios and growth rate of A. sphaerocephala seedlings. Under the lower soil nitrate： ammonium ratios, with the increase of soil nitrate： ammonium ratios, the growth rates of plant height and shoot biomass of A. sphaerocephala seedlings decreased significantly; with the increase of plant carbon： nitrogen ratios, the growth rates of shoot biomass of A. sphaerocephala seedlings decreased significantly. Soil nitrate： ammonium ratios affected the carbon： nitrogen ratios of A. sphaerocephala seedlings by plant nitrogen but not by plant carbon. Thus, soil nitrate： ammonium ratios influenced the carbon： nitrogen ratios of A. sphaerocephala seedlings, and hence influenced its growth rates. Our results suggest that under adequate nutrient environment, soil nitrate： ammonium ratios can be a limiting factor for the growth of the early succession plant.

Effect of invasion by Hyptis suaveolens on plant diversity and selected soil properties of a constructed tropical grassland

Aims Hyptis suaveolens(L.)Poit is an important invader of the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world.In our study,it has been inves-tigated that how does the H.suaveolens invasion regulate plant spe-cies diversity across the seasons in the dry tropical grassland.We hypothesized that a shift in soil inorganic-N availability is caused by invasion,and this shift is integral to access the invasion effect on plant diversity.Methods The study was performed in experimental plots at the Botanical Garden of the Banaras Hindu University(25°16′3.3″N and 82°59′22.7″E),Varanasi,Uttar Pradesh,India.Five replicates(each,2×2m)of non-invaded grassland plots(NIG)and five grassland plots invaded with H.suaveolens(IG)were established.These plots were constructed by transplanting indigenous grassland patches from an adjacent native grassland.In the invaded plots,20 indi-viduals of H.suaveolens were transplanted per plot.After 1 year of establishment,diversity attributes and soil properties were recorded from these plots in three seasons as per standard protocol.Important Findings The results indicated that Hyptis invasion negatively affects plant diversity,with relatively higher impact in rainy season as compared to the winter season.IG exhibited lower soil mois-ture content and temperature than NIG in rainy season,whereas soil ammonium-N,nitrate-N,total inorganic-N,N mineralization registered higher values for IG than NIG in both rainy and win-ter season.Diversity indices were negatively correlated with soil inorganic-N pool and N mineralization.However,these indices were positively correlated with microbial biomass carbon(MBC),and the correlation coefficient for this relationship was higher for rainy season as compared to winter.Species richness(r=0.65)and Shannon diversity(r=0.757)were significantly correlated with the ratio of ammonium-N to nitrate-N.The negative effect of invasion by H.suaveolens on the plant diversity is possibly mediated by the effect of invasion on N mineralization processes(mainly nitrification)and the availability of soil inorganic-N pools.The study indicates that Hyptis invasion has an enormous poten-tial to change the structure and composition of plant communities in the dry tropical grasslands.