TY  - JOUR
AU  - Nieves, M.
AU  - Nieves-Cordones, M.
AU  - Poorter, H.
AU  - Simón, M.D.
TI  - Leaf nitrogen productivity is the major factor behind the growth reduction by long term salt stress
JO  - Tree physiology
VL  - 31
SN  - 0829-318X
CY  - Victoria, BC
PB  - Heron
M1  - PreJuSER-10411
SP  - 92 - 101
PY  - 2011
N1  - This work was supported by CDTI Project (IDI-20070868).
AB  - Plant growth response to salinity on a scale of years has not been studied in terms of growth analysis. To gain insights into this topic, 2-year-old Mediterranean Fan Palm (Chamaerops humilis L.) and Mexican Fan Palm (Washingtonia robusta H. Wendl) seedlings, each with its own distinct plant morphology, were grown for 2 years in a peat soil and irrigated with water of 2 dS m(-1) (control) or 8 dS m(-1) (saline). Plants were harvested on seven occasions and the time trends in relative growth rate (RGR, the rate of increase of biomass per unit of biomass already existing) and its components were analysed. In the long term, salinity produced a slight reduction in the mean RGR, values in both species. In the short term, salinity caused a reduction in RGR. However, during the second year, plants irrigated with 8 dS m(-1) grew somewhat more quickly than the control plants, probably as a result of delay in the growth kinetics due to salinity. Regarding RGR components, leaf nitrogen productivity (the rate of biomass gain per unit leaf N and time) was the major factor causing the differences in RGR resulting from salinity. Washingtonia robusta showed a relatively high plasticity in plant morphology by increasing root and decreasing stem biomass allocation in the presence of salinity. However, the long-term response of W. robusta to salinity, based to a great extent, on this morphological plasticity, was less effective than that of C. humilis, which is based mainly on the contribution of leaf N to RGR values.
KW  - Arecaceae: drug effects
KW  - Arecaceae: growth & development
KW  - Arecaceae: physiology
KW  - Biomass
KW  - Nitrogen: analysis
KW  - Nitrogen: metabolism
KW  - Plant Leaves: drug effects
KW  - Plant Leaves: growth & development
KW  - Plant Leaves: physiology
KW  - Plant Roots: drug effects
KW  - Plant Roots: growth & development
KW  - Plant Roots: physiology
KW  - Plant Stems: drug effects
KW  - Plant Stems: growth & development
KW  - Plant Stems: physiology
KW  - Salinity
KW  - Seedling: drug effects
KW  - Seedling: growth & development
KW  - Seedling: physiology
KW  - Sodium Chloride: pharmacology
KW  - Spain
KW  - Stress, Physiological
KW  - Time Factors
KW  - Water: metabolism
KW  - Sodium Chloride (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Nitrogen (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Water (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - J (WoSType)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:21389005
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000288272100010
DO  - DOI:10.1093/treephys/tpq106
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/10411
ER  -