Effects of air and soil humidification on the growth of young Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica trees in semi-arid area of Nei Mongol, China

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2021.0481

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Arid and semi-arid areas account for about 30% of the total global land area. Plant growth in these areas is more susceptible to drought stress. Both atmospheric drought and soil drought can affect plant growth. Although there have been many experimental studies on the effects of atmospheric drought and soil drought on plant growth, the specific mechanism is not clear.

Methods In this study, the differential effects of air and soil humidification on the growth characteristics of young Pinus sylvestris var. mongolicatrees were investigated by manipulation experiments of altering air humidity and soil water content.

Important findings The results showed that: 1) Compared with the control, air humidification significantly reduced vapor pressure deficit by 20.5%, and air humidification and soil humidification significantly increased soil moisture by 23.4% and 21.3%, respectively; 2) Air humidification significantly increased leaf density, soil humidification significantly increased twig diameter, and air and soil humidification significantly promoted the growth of leaves and twigs; 3) Taking into consideration of the effect of humidification treatment on radial growth and the analysis with structural equation model, the results showed that soil humidification directly promoted the stem radial growth, and the significant positive effects of air humidification on radial growth is due to the direct effect of the decrease in vapor pressure deficit, and the indirect effect in the increase of soil moisture caused by air humidification. This study revealed distinct responses of young P. sylvestris var. mongolica tree growth to atmospheric water and soil water changes.

Key words: drought, vapor pressure deficit, soil moisture, leaf growth, twig growth, stem radial growth

LI Yi-Ding, SANG Qing-Tian, ZHANG Hao, LIU Long-Chang, PAN Qing-Min, WANG Yu, LIU Wei, YUAN Wen-Ping. Effects of air and soil humidification on the growth of young Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica trees in semi-arid area of Nei Mongol, China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2022, 46(9): 1077-1085.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2021.0481

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2022/V46/I9/1077

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 Air and soil humidification treatment and layout of sample plot.

Fig. 2 Effects of air and soil humidification on vapor pressure deficit (VPD)(A) and soil moisture (B)(mean ± SE). A, air humidification; AS, air and soil co-humidification; CK, control; S, soil humidification. Different lowercase letters indicate significant difference among treatments (p < 0.05).

Fig. 3 Effects of air and soil humidification on leaf area (A), leaf number of one twig (B), and total leaf area on one twig (C) of young Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica trees (mean ± SE). A, air humidification; AS, air and soil co-humidification; CK, control; S, soil humidification. Different lowercase letters indicate significant difference among treatments (p < 0.05).

Fig. 4 Temporal changes in leaf water holding capacity of young Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica trees (mean ± SE). A, air humidification; AS, air and soil co-humidification; CK, control; S, soil humidification.

Fig. 5 Temporal changes in twig growth (A) and the effects of air and soil humidification on twig length (B) and twig diameter (C) of young Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica trees (mean ± SE). A, air humidification; AS, air and soil co-humidification; CK, control; S, soil humidification. Different lowercase letters indicate significant difference among treatments (p < 0.05).

Fig. 6 Effects of air and soil humidification on the stem radial growth of young Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica trees (mean ± SE). A, air humidification; AS, air and soil co-humidification; CK, control; S, soil humidification. Different lowercase letters indicate significant difference among treatments (p < 0.05).

Fig. 7 Structural equation modeling analysis for the effects of air and soil humidification on the growth of leaf, twig and radial in Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica. Standardized regression coefficients and significance are shown next to the arrow for each path, dashed arrows indicate insignificant effects (p > 0.05). R2 represents the degree of explanation for the total change of the target dependent variable. *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001.

Table 1 Standardized total effects of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and soil moisture (SM) on the leaf, twig and radial growth in Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica

	VPD	SM
叶面积 Leaf area	-0.207	0.435
叶密度 Leaf density	-0.395	-
枝条长 Twig length	-0.304	0.637
枝条直径 Twig diameter	-0.320	0.671
径向生长 Radial growth	-0.375	0.535

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