Abstract
Distribution of net assimilated C in meadow fescue (Fectuca pratensi L.) was followed before and after cutting of the shoots. Plants were continuously labelled in a growth chamber with 14C-labelled CO2 in the atmosphere from seedling to cutting and with 13C-labelled CO2 in the atmosphere during regrowth after the cutting. Labelled C, both 14C and 13C, was determined at the end of the two growth periods in shoots, crowns, roots, soil and rhizosphere respiration.
Distribution of net assimilated C followed almost the same pattern at the end of the two growth periods, i.e. at the end of the 14C- and the 13C-labelling periods. Shoots retained 71–73% of net assimilated C while 9% was detected in the roots and 11–14% was released from the roots, determined as labelled C in soil and as rhizosphere respiration.
At the end of the 2nd growth period, after cutting and regrowth, 21% of the residual plant 14C at cutting (14C in crowns and roots) was found in the new shoot biomass. A minor part of the residual plant 14C, 12%, was lost from the plants. The decreases in 14C in crowns and roots during the regrowth period suggest that 14C in both crowns and roots was translocated to new shoot tissue.
Approximately half of the total root C at the end of the regrowth period after cutting was 13C-labelled C and thus represents new root growth. Root death after cutting could not be determined in this experiment, since the decline in root 14C during the regrowth period may also be assigned to root respiration, root exudation and translocation to the shoots. ei]{gnH}{fnLambers} ei]{gnA C}{fnBorstlap}
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Johansson, G. Carbon distribution in grass (Festuca pratensis L.) during regrowth after cutting—utilization of stored and newly assimilated carbon. Plant Soil 151, 11–20 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00010781
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00010781