Fertiliser application positively affects plants performance but reduces seed viability in seashore mallow (Kosteletzkya pentacarpos): implication for biomass production and species conservation

Abstract

Kosteletzkya pentacarpos (L.) Ledeb. (seashore mallow) is recognized as an important plant species for several industrial applications, especially in North America and Asia. In Europe, seashore mallow is highly threatened and subject of conservation actions (e.g. reintroduction). In order to define appropriate multipurpose cultivation protocols, suitable for biomass production and for conservation purposes, we investigated the effect of varying levels of soil salt content and nutrient availability on seashore mallow. As expected, seashore mallow had the best performance in terms of growth rate, flowering and fruit production when fertilization was applied, while salt had only limited effects. Interestingly, seeds produced by fertilized plants showed a lower germination performance and higher mortality than seeds developed form control and non-fertilized plants. Our results highlight a trade-off between parental plant growth and seed performance, the former being enhanced by fertilizer addition and the latter being reduced by fertilization. The causes of this tradeoff are related to a transgenerational maternal effect of fertilizer that has important implications for seashore mallow cultivation. From a practical point of view, biomass production benefits from fertilization but if the quality of seeds and the fitness of the next generation are major objectives (e.g. seed production and species conservation), fertilization is not recommended.

Ultraviolet-B induced responses of Psoralea corylifolia L. with special emphasis on: growth, anatomy, physiology, yield, essential oil content and composition

“…It has been reported that there is a trade-off between number and size of seeds, which enable plants to adapt and survive in their varied habitat (Gan et al 2013). Abeli et al (2017) reported that under stressful environment plants invest more photosynthates towards reproduction and enhance the provisioning and quality of seeds as an adaptive response to ensure survival of seedlings. This might be happened in our case, where the number of seeds reduced while seeds size and mass did not show any signi cant variation as an adaptive response under stressful environment of UV-B.…”

Nursery pre‐treatment positively affects reintroduced plant performance via plant pre‐conditioning, but not via maternal effects

“…A previous experiment showed that fertilized seashore mallow plants produced low‐quality seeds, suggesting that there is a trade‐off between maternal plant vigour and the quality of the offspring (Abeli et al, ). This behaviour was attributed to different seed provisioning by maternal plants under various levels of stress, via maternal effects (Galloway & Etterson, ; Kochanek, Steadman, Probert, & Adkins, ), and was at the core of our second question.…”

“…Seashore mallow plants from two generations (maternal plants and offspring) were used for the translocation experiment in 2015. The year before, the maternal plants had been cultivated in the Botanical Garden of the University of Ferrara with a factorial combination of three levels of salt addition [none (0S), low (LS), and high (HS) additions of salt] and three levels of fertilizer addition [none (0F), low (LF) and high (HF) levels of fertilizer added]; see Abeli et al () for further information. The offspring plants were germinated from seeds collected from maternal plants, but received no further treatment.…”

“…Seashore mallow were planted in two recipient sites characterized by nutrient‐rich freshwater and nutrient‐poor brackish water, respectively. A previous study, aiming to define appropriate ex situ cultivation protocols for seashore mallow, demonstrated that fertilizer application generates a trade‐off between parental plant growth and seed performance, with parental plant growth being enhanced and seed performance being reduced by the application of fertilizer, whereas salt application has no effect on growth or on seed performance (Abeli et al, ). The aim of this study was to evaluate the direct influence of cultivation environment and the maternal effects produced by fertilizer and salt treatments on the performance of seashore mallow in experimental translocations.…”