Authors: Florian Wichern Jochen Mayer Rainer Joergensen Torsten Müller
Publish Date: 2009/08/21
Volume: 329, Issue: 1-2, Pages: 105-115
Abstract
To investigate the amount and fate of rootderived C and N often tracer techniques are used where plants are labelled with isotopes In the present study we evaluated the suitability of the cotton wick method for in situ labelling of peas Pisum sativum L and oats Avena sativa L with 13C and 15N simultaneously With two greenhouse experiments we investigated how the wick method and aqueous urea and sugar solutions at a variety of concentrations affected plant development In addition we investigated the distribution of 13C and 15N in plants from column experiments under outdoor conditions Solution was taken up by the plant from a small vial connected to the stem by a cotton wick which was passed through a hole in the stem of the plants Generally solution uptake varied between individual plants and decreased with increasing sugar concentrations Belowground aboveground and total plant dry matter were not significantly affected by the wick method and the applied solutions Mixtures of aqueous glucose solutions at 2 to 4 and aqueous urea solutions at 1 are useful carriers of 13C and 15N However in the investigated plants isotopes were not homogeneously distributed among plant parts Aboveground plant biomass was preferentially enriched with 13C and 15N whereas belowground plant biomass was generally lower enriched Moreover isotope distribution ratio of individual plants varied considerably independent of plant part or timing of labelling This must be taken into account when estimating rootderived C and N Future studies comparing labelling methods need to present the isotope distribution ratios among plant parts to allow a true comparison of the methods and the evaluation of their suitability for estimating rhizodepositionWe would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their very useful remarks The kind help of Gabriele Dormann Christian Maack Manuel Renneberg Sarina Weber Markus Peters Birge Ude Nicole Gauss and Elmar Eberhardt is highly acknowledged We are highly indebted to Rainer Brauckmann who provided technical support using the greenhouse This study was financed by the German Research Foundation
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