Clothing the Emperor: Dynamic Root-Shoot Allocation Trajectories in Relation to Whole-Plant Growth Rate and in Response to Temperature.

ABSTRACT: We quantified how root-shoot biomass allocation and whole-plant growth rate co-varied ontogenetically in contrasting species in response to cooling. Seven grass and four forb species were grown for 56 days in hydroponics. Growth was measured repeatedly before and after day/night temperatures were reduced at 28 days from 20 °C/15 °C to 10 °C/5 °C; controls remained unchanged. Sigmoid trajectories of root and shoot growth were reconstructed from the experimental data to derive continuous whole-plant relative growth rates (RGRs) and root mass fractions (RMFs). Root mass fractions in cooled plants generally increased, but this originated from unexpected and previously uncharacterised differences in response among species. Root mass fraction and RGR co-trajectories were idiosyncratic in control

SUBMITTER: Robinson D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6681223 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature