Effects of Root Zone Warming on Maize Seedling Growth and Photosynthetic Characteristics Under Different Phosphorus Levels

Abstract

Phosphorus content and root zone temperature are two major environmental factors affecting maize growth. Both low phosphorus and root zone high temperature stress significantly affect the growth of maize, but the comprehensive effects of phosphorus deficiency and root zone warming are less studied. This study aimed to explore the effects of phosphorus deficiency and root zone warming on the root absorption capacity, total phosphorus content, and photosynthetic fluorescence parameters of maize seedlings. The results showed that maize shoots and roots had different responses to root zone warming and phosphorus deficiency. Properly increasing the root zone temperature was beneficial to the growth of maize seedlings, but when the root zone temperature was too high, it significantly affected the root and shoot development of maize seedlings. The root zone warming had a more significant impact on the root system, while phosphorus deficiency had a greater impact on the shoots. Phosphorus content and root zone warming had a strong interaction. Under the comprehensive influence of normal phosphorus supply and medium temperature in the root zone, the growth of maize seedlings was the best. Under the combined effects of low phosphorus and high temperature in the root zone, the growth was the worst. Compared with the combination of normal phosphorus and root zone medium temperature treatment, the dry mass of the low-phosphorus root zone high temperature treatment was decreased by 55.80%. Under the condition of low-phosphorus too high root zone temperature reduced root vitality, plant phosphorus content, which in turn affected plant growth and light energy utilization efficiency. In the case of sufficient phosphate fertilizer supply, appropriately increasing the soil temperature in the root zone is beneficial to increase the absorption and utilization of phosphorus by plants and promote the growth and development of maize seedlings.

Fertilizers and Fertilization Strategies Mitigating Soil Factors Constraining Efficiency of Nitrogen in Plant Production

“…The plant’s response to temperature changes depends not only on the plant species, but also on the content of nutrients in the soil. According to Xia et al [ 141 ], negative effects of excessive temperature on P content and uptake occur especially in P-poor soils. The authors also found that an overly high root zone temperature reduced root vitality and plant phosphorus content, which in turn affected plant growth and light energy utilization efficiency.…”

Contrasting patterns in growth attributes, root traits plasticity, and defence mechanism of maize under deficit moisture and phosphorus supply

“…Furthermore, water and P-de ciency alter the activities, morphology and architecture system of the plant roots. Previously, it has been reported that the low phosphorus signi cantly increased the root surface area, root volume and total root length but decreased the average root diameter in maize (Xia et al 2021). Moreover, the maize root surface area and root volume were not affected by drought, but total root length was increased under drought condition (Hussain et al 2020).…”

“…Maize (Zea mays L.) is sensitive to drought (Hussain et al 2019, Hussain et al 2020, Shemi et al 2021b) and phosphorus de cit condition (Nadeem et al 2011, Klamer et al 2019, Xia et al 2021) particularly during early growth stages. Single or combined impact of drought and P de ciency considerably decrease maize growth by affecting Fv/Fm, chlorophyll content, leaf relative water content and leaf water potential (Kaya et al 2020).…”

Miscanthus sinensis contributes to the survival of Pinus densiflora seedlings at a mining site via providing a possible functional endophyte and maintaining symbiotic relationship between P. densiflora and endophytes from high soil temperature stress

“…The severe environment might weaken P . densiflora seedlings outside patches via suppressing defense systems [ 55 , 58 ], to change the interaction with C . bicorne , which might be not endophytic but weakly pathogenic.…”