BALASUBRAMANIAN, G., UDAYASOORIAN, C. & PRABU, P. C. 2007. Effects of short-term exposure of simulated acid rain on the growth of Acacia nilotica. The response and measurable effects of simulated acid rain at different pH levels of 3.5, 4.5, 5.5, 6.5 and 7.0 on Acacia nilotica seedlings grown on black and red soils were investigated for six months. A set of 10 potted seedlings in each treatment...

In resprouting species, fire-induced topkill causes a reduction in height and leaf area without a comparable reduction in the size of the root system, which should lead to an increase in the efficiency of water transport after fire. However, large plants undergo a greater relative reduction in size, compared with small plants, so we hypothesized that this enhancement in hydraulic efficiency wou...

Global data sets provide strong evidence of convergence for leaf structure with leaf longevity such that species having thick leaves, low specific leaf area, low mass-based nitrogen concentrations, and low photosynthetic rates typically exhibit long leaf life span. Leaf longevity and corresponding leaf structure have also been widely linked to plant potential growth rate, plant competition, and...

Salt tolerance of higher plants is determined by a complex set of traits, the timing and rate of evolution of which are largely unknown. We compared the salt tolerance of cultivars of sugar beet and their ancestor, sea beet, in hydroponic studies and evaluated whether traditional domestication and more recent breeding have changed salt tolerance of the cultivars relative to their ancestor. Our ...

  In a three-year (2004-2006), field experiment, we aimed to study changes in leaf physiological traits (leaf water potential-Ψleaf, leaf water content-LWC, carbon isotope discrimination-Δ, specific leaf area-SLA, chlorophyll content as assessed by SPAD and modified SPAD-MSPAD) and elemental composition (K, Na, Ca, Mg, K/Na, Ca/Mg, total leaf salinity-TLS) of sugar beets (cv. Rizor) grown unde...

the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different potassium (k) and nitrogen (n) concentrations in nutrient solution and their interaction on growth and quality of tomato transplants. a full factorial experimental design was carried out with three potassium concentrations (1.5, 3 and 6 meql-1) and three nitrogen concentrations (1.5, 3 and 6 meql-1) for 27 days after seed germination...

We report a protocol using a common desk-top scanner and public domain software for measuring existing leaf area and leaf area removed as a result of herbivory. We compared the accuracy and precision of this method to that of a standard leaf area meter. Both methods were used to measure metal disks of a known area, the area of soybean (Glycine max L.) leaves, and the area removed by simulating ...

Salinization is an important and increasingly prevalent issue which has broad and profound effects on plant survival and distribution pattern. To understand the patterns and potential drivers of leaf traits in saline environments, we determined the soil properties, leaf morphological traits (specific leaf area, SLA, and leaf dry matter content, LDMC), leaf chemical traits (leaf carbon, C, nitro...

in order to determine the role of plant leaf area in radiation distribution within the canopy and a better understanding of how crops and weeds intercept light a study of the complexity of plants is necessary. the  effect of intercropping on leaf area distribution and dry matter accumulation in corn, soybean and weeds canopy was studied in a  field experiment at a research field of tehran unive...

an important factor in the growth medium of plants and chemical plants. native substrates can be used to improve plant performance. to evaluate the effect of growth medium on the herb f. benjamina experimental design was completely randomized with eight treatments and four replications were carried out in the research greenhouse of islamic azad university of jiroft. f. benjamina  plants from ve...