Effect of simulated changes in rainfall patterns on characteristics of ramets and roots of Chloris virgata

doi:10.11686/cyxb2020066

Abstract

Abstract:

As an important part of global climate change， changes in rainfall patterns will have different effects on various types of plants. Chloris virgata is one of the main pioneer species for the restoration of degraded saline-alkali grasslands. To design optimal ecological restoration strategies for degraded saline-alkali land in the background of global change， it is important to understand how the changes in rainfall patterns will affect the characteristics of ramets and roots of C. virgata. We determined the effects of several simulated rainfall patterns （decreased by 30%， unchanged， increased by 30%） and rainfall intervals （1 and 2 days） on the aboveground ramet and underground root morphological characteristics of C. virgata. It was found that： 1） The changes in rainfall pattern had almost no effect on the sexual reproduction characteristics of C. virgata. With increasing rainfall amount or increasing rainfall interval， vegetative reproductive characteristics tended to be enhanced. 2） Rainfall interval and rainfall amount had different effects on the roots of C. virgata. Rainfall interval had the greatest influence， although two factors were interdependent. When the rainfall amount was unchanged， the total root length， total root surface area， total root volume， and root diameter decreased significantly with increasing rainfall interval. 3） Both rainfall amount and rainfall interval affected biomass accumulation， with rainfall interval being more important. The root biomass， stem biomass， and total biomass significantly decreased with increasing rainfall interval， and the biomass of leaves and inflorescences showed a decreasing trend， but this was not statistically significant.

Key words: rainfall amount, rainfall interval, pioneer plant, ramet, root

Lin YANG, Mo CHEN, Hai-yan LI, Yun-fei YANG. Effect of simulated changes in rainfall patterns on characteristics of ramets and roots of Chloris virgata[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2021, 30(1): 181-188.

Figures/Tables 6

Table 1 Simulated rainfall amount and rainfall interval treatment

降水量Rainfall amount （mL）			降雨间隔Rainfall interval （d）
W-	W	W+	T	T+
24.5	35.1	45.6	1	2
72.7	103.8	135.0	1	2

Table 2 Two-way ANOVA analysis of the effects of rainfall pattern changes on ramet and the root morphological characteristics of C. virgata

因子Factor	分蘖数TN	株高PH	穗长SL	生殖生长比率RRA	总根长TRL	根总表面积TRSA	根直径RD	根总体积TRV
T	0.432	10.647^**	0.887	1.935	4.276^*	4.771^*	4.322^*	5.050^*
W	1.924	4.118^*	1.967	4.145^*	2.172	2.259	0.529	2.275
T×W	0.219	0.494	0.253	1.034	0.016	0.027	0.105	0.039

Fig.1 The effects of rainfall pattern changes on ramet growth characteristics of C. virgata

Fig.2 The effects of rainfall pattern changes on the root morphological characteristics of C. virgata

Table 3 Two-way ANOVA analysis of the effects of rainfall pattern changes on biomass of C. virgata

因子

Factor

根生物量

Root biomass

茎生物量

Stem biomass

叶生物量

Leaf biomass

花序生物量

Inflorescence biomass

总生物量

Total biomass

Table 4 Multiple comparisons of effect of rainfall pattern changes on the biomass of C. virgata (g·plant-1)

降雨间隔 Rainfall interval	降水量 Rainfall amount	根生物量 Root biomass	茎生物量 Stem biomass	叶生物量 Leaf biomass	花序生物量 Inflorescence biomass	总生物量 Total biomass
T	W-	0.143 $±$ 0.077ab	0.635 $±$ 0.473ab	0.517 $±$ 0.346	0.070 $±$ 0.051	1.365 $±$ 0.909ab
	W	0.182 $±$ 0.022ab	0.882 $±$ 0.542ab	0.674 $±$ 0.405	0.071 $±$ 0.055	1.810 $±$ 1.052ab
	W+	0.236 $±$ 0.024a	1.091 $±$ 0.519a	0.813 $±$ 0.391	0.073 $±$ 0.057	2.213 $±$ 1.019a
T+	W-	0.096 $±$ 0.093b	0.452 $±$ 0.368b	0.358 $±$ 0.250	0.050 $±$ 0.018	0.956 $±$ 0.727b
	W	0.122 $±$ 0.082b	0.626 $±$ 0.353ab	0.593 $±$ 0.361	0.060 $±$ 0.053	1.402 $±$ 0.745ab
	W+	0.143 $±$ 0.084ab	0.877 $±$ 0.504ab	0.648 $±$ 0.383	0.062 $±$ 0.029	1.731 $±$ 0.944ab

Table 4 Multiple comparisons of effect of rainfall pattern changes on the biomass of C. virgata (g·plant-1)

降雨间隔 Rainfall interval	降水量 Rainfall amount	根生物量 Root biomass	茎生物量 Stem biomass	叶生物量 Leaf biomass	花序生物量 Inflorescence biomass	总生物量 Total biomass
T	W-	0.143 $±$ 0.077ab	0.635 $±$ 0.473ab	0.517 $±$ 0.346	0.070 $±$ 0.051	1.365 $±$ 0.909ab
	W	0.182 $±$ 0.022ab	0.882 $±$ 0.542ab	0.674 $±$ 0.405	0.071 $±$ 0.055	1.810 $±$ 1.052ab
	W+	0.236 $±$ 0.024a	1.091 $±$ 0.519a	0.813 $±$ 0.391	0.073 $±$ 0.057	2.213 $±$ 1.019a
T+	W-	0.096 $±$ 0.093b	0.452 $±$ 0.368b	0.358 $±$ 0.250	0.050 $±$ 0.018	0.956 $±$ 0.727b
	W	0.122 $±$ 0.082b	0.626 $±$ 0.353ab	0.593 $±$ 0.361	0.060 $±$ 0.053	1.402 $±$ 0.745ab
	W+	0.143 $±$ 0.084ab	0.877 $±$ 0.504ab	0.648 $±$ 0.383	0.062 $±$ 0.029	1.731 $±$ 0.944ab

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