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Effects of strong wind-drift blowing on the growth and physiological properties of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica seedlings.

ZHAO Ha-lin1**, LI Jin1, ZHOU Rui-lian2, YUN Jian-ying1, QU Hao1, PAN Cheng-chen1   

  1. (1Cold and Arid Regions Environment and Engineering Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China; 2Faculty of Life Sciences, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, Shandong, China)
  • Online:2015-04-10 Published:2015-04-10

Abstract:

In order to understand physiological and ecological responses of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica seedlings to strong winddrift blowing, a winddrift blowing experiment with a 18 m·s-1 wind speed and three wind blowing times (10, 20 and 30 min) was conducted in spring, 2013 in Horqin Sand Land of Inner Mongolia. The results showed that with the increase of wind-drift blowing time, the growth rate of plant height decreased, while that of stem diameter and crown width and the number of etiolated and fallen leaves increased. The height growth decreased by 52.6%, stem diameter growth, crown width growth and the number of etiolated leaves increased by 251.9%, 256.0% and 466.7%, respectively, in the 30 min treatment compared to the CK. With the increase of wind blowing time, relative water content (RWC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity decreased, and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents, membrane permeability, peroxidase (POD) activity, soluble sugar and proline contents tended to increase. The RWC and SOD activities decreased by 4.1% and 1.9%, and MDA, membrane permeability, POD activity, soluble sugar and proline increased by 10.3%, 9.3%, 55.5%, 26.4% and 50.0%, respectively, in the 30 min treatment compared to the CK. The results suggested that strong wind-drift blowing could result in water stress, inhibition of height growth, etiolated and fallen leaves, increase of membrane lipid peroxidation and cell membrane damage. In order to adapt to the strong winddrift blowing, the seedlings speeded up the growth of the stem diameter and crown width, and increased POD activity and soluble sugar and proline contents to reduce the damage of cell membrane and maintain normal cell turgor.
 

Key words: water availability, clonal integration, arid region, Populus euphratica, stable isotope, photosynthetic activity