Effects Of Fertilization On The Stoloniferous Growth In Trifolium Repens

The experiment was conducted from June to Sep tember, 2005 in theJinlin University, China (N 44°16' E 125°47'). Vegetative plantmaterials of T. repens were transplanted (3 plants/plot) in each plot(0.6m×0.6m each) on June 26, 2006, and were watered daily duringthe initial 10 days after transplantation. The plants were fertilizedoriginally in July 2, 2006. The experiment was composed of 5treatments with 5 replicates: Control (nil fertilizer), N (nitrogen asammonium sulfate), P (phosphate as calcium superphosphate), K(potassium as potassium sulfate) and NPK (the component of the threeelement).The measurements commenced on July 2 and continued toSeptember 10, and modules densities and shape character weremeasured on each weekend. On September 13, all of the plants wereremoval from the field for subsequent measurements of biomass andcaloric value of modules. The main results were summarized as thefollowing:1. Module densities of fertilization treatments were significantlyhigher than Control. Densities of stolons (elongated, new and total),leaves, roots tended to be highest in NPK. The stolon density wasNPK P N K Cont., and the densities of leaves and roots wereNPK N Cont. K P, which showed that NPK was in favor ofpromoting module density of T. repens. On the contrary, P and Kfertilizers as limiting factors restrained densities of leaves and roots.2. Effects of fertilization on leaf area was researched by thisexperiment. The result showed that Control achieved the highest valuethan the other treatments. The result indicated that fertilizer supply hasnot certainly increased the growth of the leaf area.3. Compared with Control, fertilizer treatments showed highervalues in new branch density, that was 15.7, 12. 8, 11.1, 10.9 and 10.6(/m2 , respectively. And total branch density was 64.5, 54.9, 53.0,54.0 and 50.38(/m2 , respectively. The result showed that the branchdensities were improved by fertilizers, which led to higher spatialavailability by the plant.4. The result of the experiment showed that the branching angle ofstolon is the most between 45°to 65°. The result indicated that themost appropriate branching angle of the trifolium repens is 62°. Thebranching pattern of T. repens is a network structure which takes thehexagon as the unit. The occupying plane by the hexagon n etwork ofthe plant is one kind of optimized pattern, the energy that it payed inthis time is fewer, the spatial area that it occupied is biger, branchingangle of the homologous has some kind of adjustment mechanism, andexerting fertilizer has imperceptible adjustment function to thebranching angle.5. T. repens showed remarked foraging characteristics, which couldbe quantitatively described with formula of foraging intensity.Compared with the Control treatment, the plant showed lower spacerlength and higher branch density under NPK, which was in favor ofpromoting the foraging intensity.6. There were significant differences among the biomass observedin different treatments. The biomass in NPK was the highest. Thestolon of Trifolium repens could grow well on all the fertilized plots.However, singular fertilization had no obviouse effecects on the leafand root growth of Trifolium rrepens. The yield of the modules,especially the stolon, observed in Control treatment was lower thanthat observed in any other treatment.