Effect of Crop Straw Treatments on the Nutrient Uptake of Peach
(Prunus davidiana) Seedlings
Lei Liu
1a
, Lijin Lin
2b
, Yan Huang
1c
, Kewen Huang
1d
and Ting Wang
1,* e
1
Research Institute of Horticulture, Chengdu Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
2
College of Horticulture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Keywords: Nutrient Absorption, Peach (Prunus davidiana), Straw.
Abstract: The effects of crop straw treatments (rape straw, paddy straw, wheat straw, and corn straw) on the nutrient
uptake of peach [Prunus davidiana (Carr.) Franch] seedlings were analyzed by conducting a pot
experiment. Analysis showed that the nitrogen content in the roots and stems of peach seedlings decreased
with wheat straw addition and that in the roots, stems, and leaves of peach seedlings significantly increased
with rape straw addition compared with that of the control. Phosphorus, potassium, and sodium contents in
the roots, stems, and leaves of peach seedlings with four different straw treatments were more than that of
the control. Paddy straw addition increased the calcium content in roots, stems, and leaves of peach
seedlings, while the other treatments reduced the calcium content in roots, stems, and leaves; magnesium
content showed an opposite pattern. Based on these findings, rape straw addition is considered the most
favourable practice for the nutrient uptake of peach seedlings.
1 INTRODUCTION
1
Straw is a natural soil conditioner, and straw return-
to-field is a commonly used management practice to
conserve the water and fertilizer. Straw returned into
the soil is decomposed by soil microorganisms under
suitable soil moisture and temperature conditions,
which can release the nutrients and microelements,
such as organic matter, nitrogen (N), phosphorus
(P), and potassium (K), improve soil fertility and
enhance the absorption and utilization of plant
nutrients (Zhu et al., 2010, Gong et al., 2013, van
Asten et al., 2005). Studies have shown significant
positive effects of straw return-to-field in corn, rice,
wheat, and other crops by promoting the growth and
enhancing the yield of those crops (Zheng et al.,
2014, Yao et al., 2019, Hu et al., 2013, Zhang,
Wang, 2013). Straw is also widely used in vegetable
cultivation; its addition increases the chlorophyll
content and antioxidant capacity of cowpea leaves
which resulting the fast growth of cowpea seedlings
a
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5606-0035
b
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3650-8557
c
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2889-5806
d
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4977-0853
e
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6424-5742
(Chen et al., 2019). Addition of wheat, corn, or
Jerusalem artichoke straw promotes the growth of
cucumber seedlings (Gong et al., 2015), and
application of straw significantly increases sweet
pepper yield (Feng, 2010). In this experiment, the
effects of addition of different types of straw (wheat,
paddy, rape and corn straw) on the nutrient uptake of
peach [Prunus davidiana (Carr.) Franch were
studied. The aim of this study was to select the most
suitable straw for the nutrient uptake of peach
seedlings.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Materials
Peach seeds were collected from a 10-year-old peach
tree in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The seeds were
sown in a tray containing a moist substrate [perlite
and vermiculite (V: V, 1:1)] and kept in an artificial
climate chamber under the following conditions: 14-
h day at 25°C, relative humidity 70%, 4000 Lux; and
10-h night at 20°C, relative humidity 90%, 0 Lux (Li
et al., 2020). The Hoagland nutrient solution was
added to the tray to cultivate seedlings. After 1
Liu, L., Lin, L., Huang, Y., Huang, K. and Wang, T.
Effect of Crop Straw Treatments on the Nutrient Uptake of Peach (Prunus davidiana) Seedlings.
DOI: 10.5220/0011236800003443
In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics (ICBEB 2022), pages 569-573
ISBN: 978-989-758-595-1
Copyright
c
2022 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
569
month, when the seedlings reached about 10 cm in
height, they were transplanted into pots.
2.2 Experimental Design
The experiment was conducted at the Chengdu
Campus of Sichuan Agricultural University from
April to October 2019. The soil was air-dried and
passed through a 5 mm sieve, and each plastic pot
(21 cm high, 20 cm in diameter) was filled with 3 kg
air-dried soil. Then, the soil in each pot was mixed
with the prepared straw of the studied plants
completely. Thirty-gram straw were applied to each
pot (10 g straw per kg soil), and the soil moisture
was maintained at 80% of field capacity for 1 week.
The five treatments were used in the experiment: no
straw addition (control), addition of rape straw,
addition of paddy straw, addition of wheat straw,
and addition of corn straw. Each treatment was
replicated four times using a completely randomized
design with 10 cm spacing between pots. Four
uniformly seedlings were transplanted into pots and
then cultivated in a greenhouse under the following
conditions: 14-h day (4000 Lux) at 25 °C and 70%
relative humidity and 10-h night (0 Lux) at 20 °C
and 90% relative humidity (Li et al., 2020). All pots
were watered daily to keep the soil moisture content
at 80% field capacity until the plants were harvested.
Once the weed seedlings grew, they were pulled out
immediately.
2.3 Measurement of Parameters
After 60 d cultivated, the whole plants were
harvested, and divided into three parts (roots, stems,
and leaves). These parts were washed with tap water
followed by deionized water (3×). These were
further dried at 80 to a constant weight. The plant
samples were finely ground and sieved through a
0.149 mm nylon mesh sieve for chemical analysis.
Dried plant samples (1.0 g) were digested in 6 mL
H
2
SO
4
/H
2
O
2
(5:1, v/v) solution with the electric
heating plate at 200 °C until the solution was
transparent, and the solution were used to determine
the total N content by the Kjeldahl method, total P
content by the Mo-Sb anti-colorimetry, total K and
Na contents by the flame photometry, and total Ca
and Mg contents by the atomic absorption
spectrometry according to Bao (Bao 2000). The soil
in each pot was air-dried and ground to particles
with diameter < 0.25 mm for chemical analysis. The
soil alkali-soluble N concentration was determined
by alkali diffusion method, the soil available P
concentration was determined by the Mo-Sb anti-
colorimetry, soil available K and water-soluble Na
concentrations were determined by flame
photometry, and water-soluble Ca and Mg
concentrations in soil were determined by EDTA
titration (Bao, 2000).
2.4 Statistical Analysis
Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 22.0
statistical software. Data were analysed using a one-
way analysis of variance with the least significant
difference test (p ≤ 0.05).
3 RESULTS
3.1 Major Nutrients of Peach Seedlings
Compared to the control, N content in stems of
peach seedlings with wheat straw addition
decreased, while N, P, and K contents in roots,
stems, and leaves of peach seedlings with other
straw treatments increased or had no significant
differences (Table 1). The N content in roots
(5.03%), stems (19.63%), and leaves (9.87%), of
peach seedlings with rape straw was significantly (p
< 0.05) more than that of the control. The P contents
in roots, stems, and leaves of peach seedlings with
paddy straw were significantly (p < 0.05) more than
that of the control, and P contents were the highest
with straw addition, while K contents were rape
straw.
Table 1: Major nutrients of peach seedlings.
Treatments
Root
(mg g
−1
)
Stem
(mg g
−1
)
Leaf
(mg g
−1
)
N
Control
1.59±0.03bc 2.14±0.02c 2.33±0.07c
Rape straw
1.67±0.03a 2.56±0.07a 2.56±0.06a
Paddy straw
1.64±0.05ab 2.25±0.05b 2.55±0.04a
Wheat straw
1.57±0.03c 1.78±0.03d 2.47±0.03b
ICBEB 2022 - The International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics
570
Corn straw
1.65±0.01ab 2.18±0.04bc 2.50±0.02a
P
Control
2.82 ±0.03c 2.70±0.04e 3.86±0.03d
Rape straw
2.94±0.07c 2.85±0.05d 4.07±0.08c
Paddy straw
5.06±0.11a 4.47±0.11a 5.32±0.06a
Wheat straw
3.30±0.12b 3.47±0.03c 4.37±0.10b
Corn straw
3.39±0.11b 3.62±0.05b 5.22±0.06a
K
Control
0.65±0.04c 0.74±0.03d 1.14±0.02e
Rape straw
1.52±0.04a 1.61±0.06a 3.36±0.01a
Paddy straw
1.20±0.03b 1.28±0.04b 2.84±0.03c
Wheat straw
0.69±0.04c 1.20±0.03c 1.95±0.05d
Corn straw
1.46±0.03a 1.57±0.06a 3.10±0.09b
Different lowercase letters within a column
indicate significant differences based on one-way
analysis of variance and the least significant
difference test (p ≤ 0.05).
3.2 Secondary Macro of Peach
Seedlings
The content of Ca in roots (17.34%), stems (9.45%),
and leaves (35.87%) of peach seedlings with paddy
straw addition increased significantly (p < 0.05)
compared with that of the control (Table 2). The
content of Ca in roots, stems, and leaves of peach
seedlings decreased with other straw treatments. On
the contrary, Mg content in roots and leaves of
peach seedlings with paddy straw was significantly
(p < 0.05) less than that of the control, and the Mg
content in roots, stems and leaves of peach seedlings
with other straw treatments was significantly (p <
0.05) more. The Mg content in roots, stems, and
leaves of peach seedlings with wheat straw was the
highest among the four straw treatments. The Na
content in roots, stems, and leaves of peach
seedlings treated with four different straws increased
significantly compared with the control. The Na
content in roots, stems, and leaves treated with rape
straw increased by 67.16, 71.22, and 126.38% (p <
0.05), respectively, compared with the control.
3.3 Soil Available Nutrient
Concentration
The addition of wheat straw decreased the
concentration of soil alkali-soluble N, and the
addition of rape and corn straw increased the soil
alkali-soluble N concentration by 35.05 and 3.95%
(p < 0.05) respectively, in which the concentration
of soil alkali-soluble N with rape straw was the
highest (Table 3). The concentrations of soil
available P, available K, and water-soluble Na
increased with all the four straw treatments
compared with the control. Only with paddy straw
addition, the concentration of water-soluble Ca was
significantly (p < 0.05) more than that of the control
(19.68%); however, with other treatments, the
concentration of water-soluble Ca was lower than
that of the control. Compared with the control,
addition of rape, wheat and corn straw significantly
increased the concentration of soil water-soluble
Mg, while the addition of paddy straw significantly
reduced the concentration of soil water-soluble Mg.
Table 2: Secondary macro of peach seedlings.
Treatments
Root
(mg kg
−1
)
Stem
(mg kg
−1
)
Leaf
(mg kg
−1
)
Ca
Control
14.76 ±0.34b 18.09±0.38b 18.23 ±0.63b
Rape straw
12.02±0.16d 15.64±0.09d 16.92±0.38b
Paddy straw
17.32±0.10a 19.80±0.70a 24.77±1.00a
Wheat straw
9.04±0.09e 14.74±0.12e 14.40 ±0.58c
Corn straw
13.96±0.27c 16.33±0.27c 17.27±0.90b
Effect of Crop Straw Treatments on the Nutrient Uptake of Peach (Prunus davidiana) Seedlings
571
Mg
Control
9.29 ±0.26d 7.15±0.18d 9.38±0.28d
Rape straw
12.49±0.46c 10.22±0.38c 10.81±0.17c
Paddy straw
6.45±0.39e 6.48±0.35d 6.30±0.23e
Wheat straw
19.15±0.17a 17.14±0.72a 13.67±0.38a
Corn straw
13.81±0.87b 11.88±0.21b 12.89±0.52b
Na
Control
0.201±0.003d 0.139±0.008d 0.163±0.003e
Rape straw
0.336±0.018a 0.238±0.004a 0.369±0.011a
Paddy straw
0.228±0.010c 0.194±0.011c 0.323±0.002c
Wheat straw
0.214±0.009cd 0.147±0.005d 0.246±0.009d
Corn straw
0.258±0.011b 0.219±0.010b 0.344±0.012b
Different lowercase letters within a column
indicate significant differences based on one-way
analysis of variance and the least significant
difference test (p ≤ 0.05).
Table 3: Soil available nutrient concentration.
Treatments
Alkali-soluble
N
(
m
g
k
g
−1
)
Available P
(
m
g
k
g
−1
)
Available K
(
m
g
k
g
−1
)
Water-soluble
Ca
(
m
g
k
g
−1
)
Water-soluble
M
g
(
m
g
k
g
−1
)
Water-soluble
Na
(
m
g
k
g
−1
)
Control
224.07±2.77bc 22.46±0.87d 18.47±2.47c 92.88±2.66b 8.52±1.01c 10.96±0.42c
Rape straw
302.60±9.83a 24.99±0.96c 70.36±0.52a 84.84±3.20cd 13.20±0.33b 17.27±1.07a
Paddy straw
227.19±3.99bc 32.37±1.13a 49.43±4.44b 111.16±4.70a 7.29±0.11d 11.86±0.52bc
Wheat straw
219.23±4.82c 29.96±1.30b 46.37±4.38b 79.72±1.16d 8.41 ±0.50a 11.49±0.55bc
Corn straw
232.92±5.72b 30.49±0.87ab 48.40±3.54b 89.86±3.13bc 13.59±0.23b 12.43±0.20b
Different lowercase letters within a column
indicate significant differences based on one-way
analysis of variance and the least significant
difference test (p ≤ 0.05).
4 DISCUSSION
This other study shows that the concentrations of
organic matter, total N, total P, available N, and
available K in the soil increase significantly after
straw return (Mu et al., 2012). In this study, the
concentrations of soil organic matter, available P,
available K, and water-soluble Na with four straw
additions were more than those of the control.
Moreover, nutrient absorption by peach seedlings
was different with different straw treatments. This
may be due to coexistence of multiple nutrient
elements in the same soil environment, when plants
absorb and utilize the nutrient elements, and there is
a synergistic and antagonistic effect (Xu et al.,
2006). The addition of wheat straw decreased the
concentration of soil alkali-soluble N, whereas other
treatments increased the concentration, which was
similar to the N content of roots and stems of peach
seedlings with wheat straw. The P, K, and Na
contents in roots, stems, and leaves of peach
seedlings in all treatments were consistent with the
P, K, and Na concentrations in soil. Studies have
confirmed the interaction among N, P, and K, and
deficiency in any of these three nutrients will affect
the absorption and utilization of the other two
nutrients (Zhu et al., 2016). In this study, the N, P,
and K contents in peach seedlings with wheat straw
addition did not show any interaction. Among the
four treatments, rape straw addition resulted in the
lowest available P concentration in the soil;
however, P content in the roots, stems, and leaves of
peach seedlings was the highest, probably because
the nutrients in the soil promoted the growth of
peach seedlings. N promotes plant photosynthesis
and increases plant nutrient accumulation, while its
deficiency affects the formation, transport, and
accumulation of photosynthetic products (Yang et
al., 2017, Pettigrew, 2008). In this study, alkali-
soluble N concentration of soil and N content in
roots, stems, and leaves of peach seedlings were the
highest with rape straw addition, and the
photosynthetic pigment content of the peach
seedlings with the same treatment was the highest. A
previous study in tobacco showed that the Ca
content of leaves increased significantly with
ICBEB 2022 - The International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics
572
increase in exchangeable Ca concentration in the
soil, and the Mg concentration increased with
increase in exchangeable Mg concentration in the
soil (Xu et al., 2007). Here, the water-soluble Ca
concentration in the soil and the Ca content in roots,
stems, and leaves of peach seedlings were
comparable. Rape and corn straw addition
significantly increased the water-soluble Mg
concentration in soil, while paddy and wheat straw
addition significantly reduced the water-soluble Mg
concentration. However, Mg content in roots, stems,
and leaves of peach seedlings decreased
significantly only with wheat straw addition.
Combined with the previous study, rape straw
addition was proven most conducive to the growth
of peach seedlings.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was financially supported by the
Integrated Research and Application of New
Varieties and Technologies of Horticultural Crops
(2020-YF09-00055-SN).
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