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The effect of the substitute media on the development of the potted New Guinea Impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri)
Acta Ecologica Sinica 33 (2013) 293–300
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The effect of the substitute media on the development of the potted New Guinea Impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri) Liu Qing-chao a,b,1, Wang Kui-ling b, Liu Qing-hua b, Pan Hui-tang a, Zhang Qi-xiang a,⇑ a b
College of Landscape Horticulture of Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, PR China College of Landscape Horticulture of Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, PR China
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 26 June 2012 Revised 20 January 2013 Accepted 17 July 2013
Keywords: Agricultural castoff Substitute media Morphology evaluation indexes Comprehensive indexes of plants Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity Photosynthesis Elements contents
a b s t r a c t Some kinds of agricultural castoffs such as sawdust (SD) and the powder of coconut coir (PCC) were used as growing media to substitute peat moss for the New Guinea Impatiens. It showed that all the substitute media should fit for the growth of the root system without disturbing the spatial development of the root. The growths of the plants in substitute media are all exceeded that in PM or only below the contrast indistinctly. The comprehensive indexes of plants in PCC and SD are 0.76 and 0.98, and the comprehensive indexes of plants in PSS and PPH are all higher than that in PM. It means that those four kinds of substitutes can be used to take the place of the peat moss totally as soilless growing media. In the period of 50–100 s, the differences of the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the leaves among all the treatments are different significantly, and the trend is similar to that of the root. The photosynthesis of the New Guinea Impatiens is very different to the data of morphology evaluation indexes. There is no noticeable effect of the growing medium itself on the elements contents of the plant. The determinant may be the nutrients solution. There is no significant difference of the contents of chlorophyll in the plant that was planted in the substitute media between the PM. Under almost the same growth conditions, the Hoagland nutrients solution can make a steady and balanced supply of nutrients for the plant which cannot be evidently disturbed by the type of media. The substitute media have lower performance of preserving moisture and fertility, under normal cultivating conditions, the plants developed well, but in order to keep the plant in good condition, the substitute media depends more on extraneous nutrients from nutrients solution than PM. Ó 2013 Ecological Society of China. Published by Elsevier B.V.
1. Introduction With the gradual improvement of soilless culture, greater attention has been given to the studies on the growing media. Peat moss is greatly used as a kind of perfect growing medium which possess very good physical and chemical characteristics, stable structure, and favorable application [1,2]. China is a big consumer of peat moss for the consumption is more than 4 million tons [3–5], and the average price is about 200–260 RMB/m3. There are three types of peat swamps: raised swamps, intermediate swamps and low-level swamps, and in China the natural resources are mostly composed of the latter two types, which are not very suitable for the growing media. So the imported peat moss is often used in protected horticulture, and of course it ultimately increase product cost.
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 010 62338005. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (L. Qing-chao), [email protected] (Z. Qi-xiang). 1 Tel.: +86 532 88030338.
After that 1970s, with all governments and researchers attaching weight to ecological environment, it has become to front research focus in the field of facility horticulture to develop and utilize new types of substitute growing medium which is abundantly available, low cost, pollution-free and easy to mass-production [6]. According to Ref. [7], we should mainly use the organic castoff as the substitute of the traditional growing medium to achieve recycled and sustainable utilization of the natural resource. Some foreign scholars using the compost, the agricultural castoff, the municipal sludge as growing media to take place the peat moss partially or totally and made great achievement. The domestic researcher [8–15] used the Non-Woven, the reed dust, the sugarcane dust etc. as media to grow the Lycopersicun esculentum Mill, the Capsicum frutescens L. the Citrullus vulgaris Schrad and the Cucumis melo L. and selected optimal corresponding culture medium to reduce the using of the peat moss at certain extent. China is abundant of the rough material such as agricultural castoff which can be used as soilless culture medium. Thus can reduce the consumption of the peat moss, release the pressure of environment conservation and promote the sustainable development of the socialist economy. In this paper, the sawdust (SD),
1872-2032/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Ecological Society of China. Published by Elsevier B.V. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chnaes.2013.07.002
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the powder of coconut coir (PCC), the powder of maize core (PMC), the powder of soybean stalk (PSS), the powder of peanut hull (PPH) and the lees was used as research materials to analyze the feasibility of being used as growing media. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Facilities, materials and environments The experiments were made in the Multi-Span Greenhouse in Beijing Forestry University. This greenhouse has the perfect equipments of automatic temperature control and gas exchange, which can provide a relatively steady growing environment. The PCC was provided by the Beijing Forestry University Forest Science CO., Ltd.; the PPH was provided by Mr. Wu Zirong from Xinzheng city Henan Province; the PMC was provided by Mr. Hu Yingen from Weihai Shandong Province; the PSS was provided by Mr. Gao Kexian from Weifang Shandong Province; the SD (of the Pinus koraiensis) came from the Beijing MU-SEN-LIN wood-working factory; and the lees came from the Niu-Lan-Shan winery. The SD, the PCC, and the lees were fermented for 5 months, and the PPH, the PMC, the PSS were fermented for only 4 months. In order to keep the coherence fermentation treatment process, not any fertilizer was added in Fig. 1. The peat moss from Shuangyashan city Heilongjiang Province was used as contrast. The New Guinea Impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri ‘Harmony Cherry Rose’) was used as indicator plants.
2.3. Effects of the substitute media on the plant morphology of the New Guinea Impatiens On April 15th, strong and healthy New Guinea Impatiens seedlings which were free from diseases and insect pests were planted into red and hard plastic pot, using the substitute media mentioned above, and the fixed size of the pots were 16 14 cm. Each treatment (different substitute media) including 50 plants in 50 pots without repeating. Ten days later the Hoagland culture solution was provided every 3 days. On June 15th (middle growing period) and August 15th (end-growing period) respectively, 20 pots from each treatment were chosen at random, and the crown widths and plant heights were measured. On August 20th, 10 pots from each treatment were chosen at random, to make a survey on the account of the flowers, the matured leaves and the biomass. The leaf areas were measured by paper weighting method. According to the flower diameter, 5 flowers were measured per pot, and totally 50 flowers per treatment. The formula (1) was used to account the subordinate function values. In the formula (1), M means the quantitative value of the certain indicator in certain medium. Mmax and Mmin represent as the maximum and minimum value of the certain indicator. The average of the subordinate function values is considered the comprehensive index of the plant. The bigger the index the better the plant developed.
XðlÞ ¼
M MMin M Max M Min
ð1Þ
2.2. Effects of the substitute media on the development of the root system of the New Guinea Impatiens
2.4. Effects of the substitute media on the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the New Guinea Impatiens leaf and root
On September 20th, 2007, strong and healthy seedlings which were free from diseases and insect pests were planted into the black and soft container, and the fixed size of the pots was 10 30 cm. After 30 and 60 days, divide the medium ball into three equal parts from top to the bottom. Put each part of the ball into porcelain plates and make a manual cleaning, then make a statistical investigation of the quantity and weight of the root.
The BPCL Ultra Weak Chemiluminescence Analyzer was used to survey the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the New Guinea Impatiens leaf and root. The plants should be first placed in indoor without straight light for 5 days, then cut the middle part of the leaf for 2.5 cm, put it into the analyzer directly to read the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity. According to the root system, 0.5 g root should be quantified by the analytical balance (1/100) after cleaning and
Fig. 1. Well decomposed organic substitutes for growing media.
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water sucking by the absorbent paper. The process of cleaning, water sucking and weighting should be completed in 1 min in order to avoid being influenced by the outer circumstances. The parameters were set as follow: Msr Times = 100 (S); Interval = 0.5 (S); Lightsource = 7000; High voltage = 1400 V; Noise = 10. 2.5. Effects of the substitute media on the content of the mineral elements and chlorophyll of the New Guinea Impatiens leaf
2.6. Effects of the substitute media on the photosynthesis of the New Guinea Impatiens On August 25–26th, from 6 AM to 18 PM three pots of New Guinea Impatiens plant were chosen at random every 2 h, at the same position of the crown three matured leaves were selected to be analyzed the photosynthetic rate using the CIRAS-1 portable photosynthesis system. Put forward the regression equation Pn = ax2 + bx + c by Excel and calculate the daily carbon accumulation of the leaves by the Numerical Integration Method using the following formula: m X ðPni ti Þ 0:0432
On August 28th, ten pots of plant were chosen at random from each treatment and placed in an empty room which without artificial temperature and humidity control. On October 1st, the last time of Hoagland nutrients solution was provided to the plants and then just water provided every 3 days. Two months later the leave number, crown width and biomass were surveyed and a contrast was made to the data of August 28th. 3. Results
In this experiment, the macro and micro elements were all analyzed by the total contents. The total N was surveyed by Kjeldahl method, the total P was surveyed by Molybdenum-Antimony AntiSpectrophotometric method, the total K was measured by Pretreatmental Method, the total Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu was measured by flame atomic absorption and emission spectrometry method using the Shimadzu AA-680 atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The content of the chlorophyll was determined by centrifuging method.
Cd ¼
2.7. Effects of the substitute media on the growth of the New Guinea Impatiens after blossoming without fertilization
ð2Þ
At the beginning of planting, many rooted cuttings corrupted in the media of lees, so in the later process of studying not any analyzes were made to the plants that growing in lees. 3.1. Effects of the substitute media on the development of the root system of the New Guinea Impatiens It showed that at the time of 30 days after planted the root of New Guinea Impatiens in PM and PPH have not reached to the area of 20–30 cm (Table 1). But the fresh biomasses of the root developed in all substitute media are all higher than in peat moss distinctively. It means that the recovery period of the plants in substitute media are short, and they can reach the peak of growing fast. At the time of 60 days after planted, the fresh biomasses of the root in powder coconut coir is 21.99 g, distinctively higher than that in powder of soybean stalk (19.09 g), but all the data of root biomasses in substitute media have no significant difference between that in peat moss. Almost 70% of the root systems in all the growing media are mainly centered in the area of 10–30 cm of the medium ball, it means that all the substitute media can make an appropriate rooting circumstance for the plant just like the peat moss (Fig. 2).
i¼1
In that formula the unit of the Cd is gC/m2, ti means time, Pni means the average net photosynthetic rate in the period of ti. The 0.0432 is a coefficient to turn the lmol CO2/m2 s to gC/m2, the former is the net photosynthetic rate and the later is the daily carbon accumulation of the unit area leave.
3.2. Effects of the substitute media on the plant morphology of the New Guinea Impatiens The crown width, plant height, branch number, flower number, flower diameter, leaf number, single leaf area, fresh and dry
Table 1 Developing of New Guinea Impatiens root in different growing media. Type of media
Position of medium ball (cm)
30 Days after planted
60 Days after planted
Root number
Root length (cm)
Root weight (g)
Total root weight (g)
Root number
Root length (cm)
Root weight (g)
Total root weight (g)
Percentage of each portion (%)
PM
0–10 10–20 20–30
29.3 4.0 0.0
341.19 96.72 0.00
2.32 0.66 0.00
2.98a
34.8 46.9 55.4
669.82 1091.26 1273.28
4.55 7.32 8.66
20.53ab
22.16 35.66 42.18
SD
0–10 10–20 20–30
29.3 13.0 0.7
515.32 182.85 45.70
3.51 1.25 0.93
5.07b
45.2 66.8 79.6
768.61 990.27 1374.57
4.93 6.78 9.45
21.17ab
23.29 32.03 44.64
PCC
0–10 10–20 20–30
50.0 19.3 4.7
642.01 232.57 140.34
4.37 1.58 0.96
6.91c
49.3 71.2 66.7
768.76 1280.62 1250.53
5.20 8.64 8.15
21.99b
23.65 39.29 37.06
PMC
0–10 10–20 20–30
38.3 17.0 3.7
525.33 192.27 132.34
3.58 1.31 0.90
5.79bc
46.8 58.9 64.3
770.22 1154.38 1152.77
5.45 7.78 7.80
21.03ab
25.92 36.99 37.09
PSS
0–10 10–20 20–30
39.3 19.7 1.3
547.43 202.22 84.83
3.73 1.38 0.87
5.68bc
48.6 67.2 73.5
682.29 1121.06 961.05
4.91 7.72 6.46
19.09a
25.72 40.44 33.84
PPH
0–10 10–20 20–30
41.7 15.3 0.0
666.71 186.62 0.00
4.54 1.27 0.00
5.81bc
52.3 69.7 73.6
790.04 1025.35 1270.35
5.27 6.72 8.57
20.57ab
25.62 32.67 41.66
Note: Different lowercase letters in the Total root weight column indicated significant difference at P = 0.05 level.
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Fig. 2. Root growth of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media.
Table 2 Plant morphology of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media. Media
Crown width (cm)
Plant height (cm)
Branch number
Flower number
Flower diameter (mm)
Leaf number
Single leaf area (cm2)
Fresh biomass of aboveground (g)
Dry biomass of aboveground (g)
Comprehensive index
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
33.7a 40.0b 40.2b 35.7a 34.3a 39.8b
18.3a 20.8b 20.3b 18.9a 18.2a 20.0b
5.3 ns 5.4 ns 5.7 ns 5.4 ns 5.2 ns 5.6 ns
46.3ab 49.3b 50.0c 43.3a 44.8ab 44.7ab
49.6ab 51.8b 55.5c 48.4a 48.8ab 48.6a
70.8ab 76.2ab 78.8b 73.3ab 70.1a 70.2a
29.47ab 34.92c 37.35d 28.18a 34.22c 29.99b
149.6ab 162.9b 166.4b 135.8a 160.1ab 150.2ab
11.9ab 12.5ab 13.0b 11.0a 12.2ab 11.6ab
0.22 0.76 0.98 0.15 0.27 0.41
Note: Different lowercase letters in the same column indicated significant difference at P = 0.05 level.
biomass of aboveground and so on are surveyed in the experiment. It showed that, the growths of the plants in substitute media are all exceeded that in PM or only below the contrast indistinctly. (Table 2 and Figs. 3 and 4). There are so many evaluation indexes to indicate the state of plant growing, but the single index is unilateral to illustrate the comprehensive character of the plant. So we use comprehensive
index to estimate the plant. It showed that comprehensive index of the plant in PMC is 0.15 under the plant in PM whose comprehensive index is 0.22. This suggested that the PMC is not a very good cultivating medium for the New Guinea Impatiens. The comprehensive indexes of plants in PCC and SD are 0.76 and 0.98, and the comprehensive indexes of plants in PSS and PPH are all higher than that in PM. It means that those four kinds of substitutes can
Fig. 3. The New Guinea Impatiens in middle period of growth in different media.
Fig. 4. The New Guinea Impatiens in flowering period in different media.
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Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of leaf (light quantum/s cm2)
0–100 s
0–100 s
50–100 s
91.1b 100.3c 102.8c 80.0a 92.9b 98.9c
259.0 ns 261.5 ns 243.4 ns 253.3 ns 273.8 ns 275.3 ns
58.7b 64.6c 63.4c 51.2a 55.2ab 60.3bc
Note: Different lowercase letters in the same column indicated significant difference at P = 0.05 level.
1000
60
700 50
600 500
40
400
30
300
20
200 10
100
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of root (light quantum /sec·cm2)
800
0
11
21
31
41
51
61
71
81
70 60
600
50
500 40
400
30
300
20
200
10
100 0
0
1
11
21
31
41
51
61
71
81
91
50
500
40
400
30
300
20
200
10
100
0 11
21
31
41
51
61
71
81
1000
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of leaf (light quantum /sec·cm2)
80
700
60
600
1
90
800
70
700
0
PCC
900
80
800
91
1000
90
SD
900
0
1
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of leaf (light quantum /sec·cm2)
From Table 3 and Fig. 5, we can see that the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities of the New Guinea Impatiens root in the period of 0– 100 s are 102.8, 100.3, 98.9 light quantum/s cm2 in PCC, SD and PPH, significantly higher than that in PM, PSS and PMC. The Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities of the New Guinea Impatiens root in PMC is 80.0 light quantum/s cm2, significantly lower than that in PM. And there is no significant difference between the PSS and the PM.
70
PM
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of root (light quantum /sec·cm2)
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of leaf (light quantum /sec·cm2)
900
3.3. Effects of the substitute media on the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the New Guinea Impatiens leaf and root
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of root (light quantum /sec·cm2)
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of root (light quantum/s cm2)
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of leaf (light quantum /sec·cm2)
Type of media
be used to take place of the peat moss totally as soilless growing media. As to the PMC, it should be first adjusted appropriately before using.
91
PMC
900
70 60
800
50
700 600
40
500
30
400 300
20
200
10
100
0
0
1
11
21
31
41
51
61
71
Fig. 5. The Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the New Guinea Impatiens leave and root in different media.
81
91
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of root (light quantum /sec·cm2)
Table 3 The Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the New Guinea Impatiens leave and root in different growing media.
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Table 4 The leave photosynthesis of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media. Type of media
Apparent quantum yield
Pn max (lmol CO2/m2 s)
Higher than PM by percent
Daily carbon accumulation gC/m2
Higher than PM by percent
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
0.0113 0.0121 0.0133 0.0120 0.0088 0.0082
4.70 4.73 5.15 5.08 4.10 4.18
– 0.6 9.6 8.1 12.8 11.1
1.17 1.27 1.29 1.20 1.11 1.07
– 8.5 10.3 2.6 5.1 8.5
The Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the leaf may be interfered by the environmental factors, especially the temperature and light. In the course of test the leaf was put into measuring cup in which is dark and closed by thermal coating, it blocked the channels of energy exchange between the leaf and the circumstance, so the UltraWeak Photon Intensity of the leaf will decrease rapidly, and then leveled off. So the authors take the view that Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the leaf after leveled off can indicate the photoluminescence characteristic more accurately. It showed that in the period of 0–100 s, there is no significant difference among all the treatments of the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the leaves. But in the period of 50–100 s, the differences of the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the leaves among all the treatments are different significantly, and the trend is similar to that of the root. This demonstrated that there is certain correlation of the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity between root and leaf. 3.4. Effects of the substitute media on the photosynthesis of the New Guinea Impatiens It is showed in Table 4 and Fig. 6 that the daily maximum net photosynthetic rate of the plant in PCC is 5.15 lmol CO2/m2 s, and the daily carbon accumulation is 1.29 gC/m2, higher than that in PM by 9.6% and 10.3%. The net photosynthetic rate and the daily carbon accumulation of the plant in PMC are higher than that in PM by 8.1% and 2.6%, but in the PSS and the PPH net photosynthetic
rates are lower than that in PM by 12.8% and 11.1%, and the daily carbon accumulation are lower than in PM by 5.1% and 8.5%. That is very different to the data of morphology evaluation indexes. 3.5. Effects of the substitute media on the content of the mineral elements and chlorophyll of the New Guinea Impatiens leaf There is no significant difference of the contents of the N, K, Ca, Mg in the New Guinea Impatiens leaves of the plant planted in the substitute media mentioned above. But the contents of the P of the plants planted in SD, PCC and PMC are significantly lower than that in PM. According to the elements contents of Mn, Zn, Cu, Fe, there is no significant difference among all the growing media including PM. Broadly speaking there is no obvious changing regularity of the contents of the mineral elements in New Guinea Impatiens leaves. The correlativity analyzing between the elements contents of New Guinea Impatiens leaves and the unused growing media showed that the relativities of the N, and P are 0.6436 and 0.5440. But to the other elements, the relativities are very low and even negative correlations are found. So according to the author there is no noticeable effect of the growing medium itself on the elements contents of the plant. The determinant may be the nutrients solution (Table 5). There is no significant difference of the contents of chlorophylla, chlorophyll-b and total chlorophyll in the plant that planted in the substitute media between the PM. The content of chlorophyll-a of the plant in SD is 1.335 mg/g FW which is significantly lower than that in PSS (Table 6). As stated previously, under almost the same growth conditions, the Hoagland nutrients solution can make a steady and balanced supply of nutrients for the plant which cannot be evidently disturbed by the type of media. 3.6. Effects of the substitute media on the growth of the New Guinea Impatiens after blossoming without fertilization
Fig. 6. Daily Pn profiles of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media.
The data in Table 7 displayed that fresh biomass and dry biomass of the plants in PM increased by 20.6% and 21.3% after 2 months of no fertilization, and the corresponding data of the plant in substitute media also increased slightly, but he scopes were all smaller than that in PM. The crown widths of the plants
Table 5 Content of mineral elements of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media. Type of media
N (%)
P (%)
K (%)
Ca (%)
Mg (%)
Mn (mg/kg)
Zn (mg/kg)
Cu (mg/kg)
Fe (mg/kg)
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
3.31 ns 3.01 ns 2.86 ns 2.58 ns 2.53 ns 2.83 ns
0.29b 0.24a 0.24a 0.23a 0.25ab 0.25ab
1.53 ns 1.45 ns 1.55 ns 1.45 ns 1.51 ns 1.56 ns
1.10 ns 1.04 ns 1.13 ns 1.15 ns 0.92 ns 1.22 ns
0.26 ns 0.27 ns 0.26 ns 0.28 ns 0.26 ns 0.25 ns
229.17a 361.33c 251.04a 549.68d 292.29ab 323.40b
120.96d 193.93e 93.94c 46.95b 25.45a 39.90b
14.54b 17.45c 12.77b 13.52b 7.11a 5.96a
245.37a 403.22c 351.67b 752.97d 274.86ab 354.99b
Relativities*
0.6436
0.5440
0.7753
0.3286
0.4717
0.8901
0.3369
0.0294
0.4456
Note: Different lowercase letters in the same column indicated significant difference at P = 0.05 level. Relativities between elements contents of growing medium itself and the elements contents of the plant.
*
L. Qing-chao et al. / Acta Ecologica Sinica 33 (2013) 293–300 Table 6 Chlorophyll content of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media. Type of media
Chlorophyll a mg/g FW
Chlorophyll b mg/g FW
Total chlorophyll mg/g FW
a/b
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
1.472ab 1.335a 1.414ab 1.381ab 1.572b 1.482ab
0.568 ns 0.533 ns 0.552 ns 0.551 ns 0.583 ns 0.569 ns
2.040 ns 1.867 ns 1.965 ns 1.932 ns 2.155 ns 2.051 ns
2.603 ns 2.502 ns 2.562 ns 2.503 ns 2.723 ns 2.605 ns
Note: Different lowercase letters in the same column indicated significant difference at P = 0.05 level.
Table 7 Development of the plants after 2 months of no fertilization (increasing percentage). Type of media
Fresh biomass (%)
Dry biomass (%)
Crown width (%)
Leaf number (%)
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
20.6 14.4 18.8 16.5 17.7 18.7
21.3 9.5 13.1 11.0 19.3 9.6
4.6 3.0 2.6 9.2 6.4 3.3
7.2 8.3 7.3 6.4 6.7 4.5
in PMC and PSS increased by 9.2% and 6.4%, both higher than that in PM who was 4.6%. But in the other substitute media, the growth rates were all lower than 4.6%. In that period, the plants in SD, PCC, PMC and PSS seriously lose one’s leaves by about 7%. Of the plant in PM and PPH, the numbers leaf increased by 7.2% and 4.5%, though there were also the renovation and dropping of the leaves.
4. Discussions The root is the vegetative organ of the plant underground, and its also an active organ specialized for sucking and compounding nourishment. Together with the organ of aboveground, they make up a production system. The physical and chemical characteristics of the growing media greatly effect the developing of the root system, and then indirectly affect the morphogenesis of the aboveground. There is a physical contact between the root system and the growing medium, the medium of superior quality can afford a favorable root rhizosphere and steady supplying of the water and nutrients. In this cultivating experiment, all the substitute media (except lees) can fit for the growth of the root system without disturbing the spatial development especially the downward growth of the root. The quality is the key factor of horticulture production. The growing medium is a Complex System composed of biologic factors and abiotic factors, and it affects the growth and development of the plant. Morphogenesis of the New Guinea Impatiens plants in substitute media were surveyed in this article and also the biomass, content of mineral element, content of chlorophylls and so on. The result showed that the morphology indexes of the New Guinea Impatiens plants in substitute media are all better than that in PM, or at least there is no significant difference. The data of biomass also appears similar trend. But PMC does not meet the requirements of the New Guinea Impatiens plants for the comprehensive growth indexes of the plant in the PMC are lower than that in PM. Emission of light as a result of chemical and physical reaction represents the basic process of the biological activities. With the development of the photon detection techniques, it is found that there is a kind of slightest light radiation from all the living organisms which is called Ultra-Weak Photon. The Ultra-Weak Photon is
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very different to bioluminescence and chemiluminescence for its spectra ranging from 180 nm to 800 nm, its illumination intensity is only 10–104 light quantum/s cm2,and its quantum efficiency is only 1014 to 109. There is close interrelation between the ubiquitous emission of light and the metabolism, the detoxifcation, the cell division, the photosynthesis and the growth regulation. The Ultra-Weak Photon technique had been used in many researching area by biologist and therapist [16–23]. There are some reports on the relationship between the Ultra-Weak Photon and the plant resistance of the crops [24–32]. But as for the relationship of the Ultra-Weak Photon of the root and leaf and the growing media were not reported as yet. This paper deals with the influence of the substitute media on the Ultra-Weak Photon of the roots and leaves of the New Guinea Impatiens plants. The results indicated that Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities of the roots and leaves of the plants in most substitute media are higher than that in PM, or lower than that in PM without significant difference. There is interrelationship of the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities between the root system and the leaves. In addition, the author noticed that, in the period of 0–100 s, the average Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities of the leaves are obviously higher than that of the roots, but in the period of 50–100 s, the average Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities of the leaves are lower than root obviously. Can this be used to explain that under dark circumstance vital movement of the root is more violent than leaf? Further test and verification are needed. The requirement of the mineral elements that needed in the process of plant developing of the New Guinea Impatiens is very low [33–37]. The Hoagland nutrients solution can supply the mineral elements effectively for the developing of the plants, sucking of the nutrients and compounding of the Chlorophyll without obvious effect with the changing of the growing media according to this experiment. And there is no significant difference of the contents of mineral elements in the plant of New Guinea Impatiens in substitute media. This further proved that the agricultural castoffs that contain great deal of cellulose can be used as growing media after fermented for the New Guinea Impatiens pot planting, the plant morphologies are better than or at least similar to that in PM. Its true that the photosynthesis can be affected by the physical and chemical characteristics of the growing media, but under the circumstances of this experiment its difficult to indicate the growth condition of the New Guinea Impatiens plants by the net photosynthetic rates and the daily carbon accumulation. In order to probe into the relationship of the plant photosynthesis and the morphologies in substitute media a lot of samples should be surveyed. But there is great interrelationship between the photosynthesis of the plants and the growing media. Few simple growth indexes of the New Guinea Impatiens were used to survey the development of the plants in substitute media after long time of no fertilizer. General speaking, 3 months after the last time fertilizing, the indexes of dry/fresh biomass and crown diameter of the plants all increased in varying degrees, but the plants in PM increased the most. All the plants in all growing media lost their basal leaves, but according to the plants in PM and PPH the leaf number improved some, and the leaf number of the plants in other growing media decreased. Based on the above data analysis, it is suggested that most plant fibrous material can be used as substitute media to take place of the PM totally or partially in cultivation for the New Guinea Impatiens and the growth potential were generally better than that in PM. But the substitute media have lower performance of preserving moisture and fertility, under normal cultivating conditions, the plants developed well, but in order to keep the plant in good conditions, the substitute media depend more on extraneous nutrients from nutrients solution than PM.
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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Acta Ecologica Sinica journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chnaes
The effect of the substitute media on the development of the potted New Guinea Impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri) Liu Qing-chao a,b,1, Wang Kui-ling b, Liu Qing-hua b, Pan Hui-tang a, Zhang Qi-xiang a,⇑ a b
College of Landscape Horticulture of Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, PR China College of Landscape Horticulture of Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, PR China
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 26 June 2012 Revised 20 January 2013 Accepted 17 July 2013
Keywords: Agricultural castoff Substitute media Morphology evaluation indexes Comprehensive indexes of plants Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity Photosynthesis Elements contents
a b s t r a c t Some kinds of agricultural castoffs such as sawdust (SD) and the powder of coconut coir (PCC) were used as growing media to substitute peat moss for the New Guinea Impatiens. It showed that all the substitute media should fit for the growth of the root system without disturbing the spatial development of the root. The growths of the plants in substitute media are all exceeded that in PM or only below the contrast indistinctly. The comprehensive indexes of plants in PCC and SD are 0.76 and 0.98, and the comprehensive indexes of plants in PSS and PPH are all higher than that in PM. It means that those four kinds of substitutes can be used to take the place of the peat moss totally as soilless growing media. In the period of 50–100 s, the differences of the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the leaves among all the treatments are different significantly, and the trend is similar to that of the root. The photosynthesis of the New Guinea Impatiens is very different to the data of morphology evaluation indexes. There is no noticeable effect of the growing medium itself on the elements contents of the plant. The determinant may be the nutrients solution. There is no significant difference of the contents of chlorophyll in the plant that was planted in the substitute media between the PM. Under almost the same growth conditions, the Hoagland nutrients solution can make a steady and balanced supply of nutrients for the plant which cannot be evidently disturbed by the type of media. The substitute media have lower performance of preserving moisture and fertility, under normal cultivating conditions, the plants developed well, but in order to keep the plant in good condition, the substitute media depends more on extraneous nutrients from nutrients solution than PM. Ó 2013 Ecological Society of China. Published by Elsevier B.V.
1. Introduction With the gradual improvement of soilless culture, greater attention has been given to the studies on the growing media. Peat moss is greatly used as a kind of perfect growing medium which possess very good physical and chemical characteristics, stable structure, and favorable application [1,2]. China is a big consumer of peat moss for the consumption is more than 4 million tons [3–5], and the average price is about 200–260 RMB/m3. There are three types of peat swamps: raised swamps, intermediate swamps and low-level swamps, and in China the natural resources are mostly composed of the latter two types, which are not very suitable for the growing media. So the imported peat moss is often used in protected horticulture, and of course it ultimately increase product cost.
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 010 62338005. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (L. Qing-chao), [email protected] (Z. Qi-xiang). 1 Tel.: +86 532 88030338.
After that 1970s, with all governments and researchers attaching weight to ecological environment, it has become to front research focus in the field of facility horticulture to develop and utilize new types of substitute growing medium which is abundantly available, low cost, pollution-free and easy to mass-production [6]. According to Ref. [7], we should mainly use the organic castoff as the substitute of the traditional growing medium to achieve recycled and sustainable utilization of the natural resource. Some foreign scholars using the compost, the agricultural castoff, the municipal sludge as growing media to take place the peat moss partially or totally and made great achievement. The domestic researcher [8–15] used the Non-Woven, the reed dust, the sugarcane dust etc. as media to grow the Lycopersicun esculentum Mill, the Capsicum frutescens L. the Citrullus vulgaris Schrad and the Cucumis melo L. and selected optimal corresponding culture medium to reduce the using of the peat moss at certain extent. China is abundant of the rough material such as agricultural castoff which can be used as soilless culture medium. Thus can reduce the consumption of the peat moss, release the pressure of environment conservation and promote the sustainable development of the socialist economy. In this paper, the sawdust (SD),
1872-2032/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Ecological Society of China. Published by Elsevier B.V. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chnaes.2013.07.002
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the powder of coconut coir (PCC), the powder of maize core (PMC), the powder of soybean stalk (PSS), the powder of peanut hull (PPH) and the lees was used as research materials to analyze the feasibility of being used as growing media. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Facilities, materials and environments The experiments were made in the Multi-Span Greenhouse in Beijing Forestry University. This greenhouse has the perfect equipments of automatic temperature control and gas exchange, which can provide a relatively steady growing environment. The PCC was provided by the Beijing Forestry University Forest Science CO., Ltd.; the PPH was provided by Mr. Wu Zirong from Xinzheng city Henan Province; the PMC was provided by Mr. Hu Yingen from Weihai Shandong Province; the PSS was provided by Mr. Gao Kexian from Weifang Shandong Province; the SD (of the Pinus koraiensis) came from the Beijing MU-SEN-LIN wood-working factory; and the lees came from the Niu-Lan-Shan winery. The SD, the PCC, and the lees were fermented for 5 months, and the PPH, the PMC, the PSS were fermented for only 4 months. In order to keep the coherence fermentation treatment process, not any fertilizer was added in Fig. 1. The peat moss from Shuangyashan city Heilongjiang Province was used as contrast. The New Guinea Impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri ‘Harmony Cherry Rose’) was used as indicator plants.
2.3. Effects of the substitute media on the plant morphology of the New Guinea Impatiens On April 15th, strong and healthy New Guinea Impatiens seedlings which were free from diseases and insect pests were planted into red and hard plastic pot, using the substitute media mentioned above, and the fixed size of the pots were 16 14 cm. Each treatment (different substitute media) including 50 plants in 50 pots without repeating. Ten days later the Hoagland culture solution was provided every 3 days. On June 15th (middle growing period) and August 15th (end-growing period) respectively, 20 pots from each treatment were chosen at random, and the crown widths and plant heights were measured. On August 20th, 10 pots from each treatment were chosen at random, to make a survey on the account of the flowers, the matured leaves and the biomass. The leaf areas were measured by paper weighting method. According to the flower diameter, 5 flowers were measured per pot, and totally 50 flowers per treatment. The formula (1) was used to account the subordinate function values. In the formula (1), M means the quantitative value of the certain indicator in certain medium. Mmax and Mmin represent as the maximum and minimum value of the certain indicator. The average of the subordinate function values is considered the comprehensive index of the plant. The bigger the index the better the plant developed.
XðlÞ ¼
M MMin M Max M Min
ð1Þ
2.2. Effects of the substitute media on the development of the root system of the New Guinea Impatiens
2.4. Effects of the substitute media on the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the New Guinea Impatiens leaf and root
On September 20th, 2007, strong and healthy seedlings which were free from diseases and insect pests were planted into the black and soft container, and the fixed size of the pots was 10 30 cm. After 30 and 60 days, divide the medium ball into three equal parts from top to the bottom. Put each part of the ball into porcelain plates and make a manual cleaning, then make a statistical investigation of the quantity and weight of the root.
The BPCL Ultra Weak Chemiluminescence Analyzer was used to survey the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the New Guinea Impatiens leaf and root. The plants should be first placed in indoor without straight light for 5 days, then cut the middle part of the leaf for 2.5 cm, put it into the analyzer directly to read the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity. According to the root system, 0.5 g root should be quantified by the analytical balance (1/100) after cleaning and
Fig. 1. Well decomposed organic substitutes for growing media.
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water sucking by the absorbent paper. The process of cleaning, water sucking and weighting should be completed in 1 min in order to avoid being influenced by the outer circumstances. The parameters were set as follow: Msr Times = 100 (S); Interval = 0.5 (S); Lightsource = 7000; High voltage = 1400 V; Noise = 10. 2.5. Effects of the substitute media on the content of the mineral elements and chlorophyll of the New Guinea Impatiens leaf
2.6. Effects of the substitute media on the photosynthesis of the New Guinea Impatiens On August 25–26th, from 6 AM to 18 PM three pots of New Guinea Impatiens plant were chosen at random every 2 h, at the same position of the crown three matured leaves were selected to be analyzed the photosynthetic rate using the CIRAS-1 portable photosynthesis system. Put forward the regression equation Pn = ax2 + bx + c by Excel and calculate the daily carbon accumulation of the leaves by the Numerical Integration Method using the following formula: m X ðPni ti Þ 0:0432
On August 28th, ten pots of plant were chosen at random from each treatment and placed in an empty room which without artificial temperature and humidity control. On October 1st, the last time of Hoagland nutrients solution was provided to the plants and then just water provided every 3 days. Two months later the leave number, crown width and biomass were surveyed and a contrast was made to the data of August 28th. 3. Results
In this experiment, the macro and micro elements were all analyzed by the total contents. The total N was surveyed by Kjeldahl method, the total P was surveyed by Molybdenum-Antimony AntiSpectrophotometric method, the total K was measured by Pretreatmental Method, the total Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu was measured by flame atomic absorption and emission spectrometry method using the Shimadzu AA-680 atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The content of the chlorophyll was determined by centrifuging method.
Cd ¼
2.7. Effects of the substitute media on the growth of the New Guinea Impatiens after blossoming without fertilization
ð2Þ
At the beginning of planting, many rooted cuttings corrupted in the media of lees, so in the later process of studying not any analyzes were made to the plants that growing in lees. 3.1. Effects of the substitute media on the development of the root system of the New Guinea Impatiens It showed that at the time of 30 days after planted the root of New Guinea Impatiens in PM and PPH have not reached to the area of 20–30 cm (Table 1). But the fresh biomasses of the root developed in all substitute media are all higher than in peat moss distinctively. It means that the recovery period of the plants in substitute media are short, and they can reach the peak of growing fast. At the time of 60 days after planted, the fresh biomasses of the root in powder coconut coir is 21.99 g, distinctively higher than that in powder of soybean stalk (19.09 g), but all the data of root biomasses in substitute media have no significant difference between that in peat moss. Almost 70% of the root systems in all the growing media are mainly centered in the area of 10–30 cm of the medium ball, it means that all the substitute media can make an appropriate rooting circumstance for the plant just like the peat moss (Fig. 2).
i¼1
In that formula the unit of the Cd is gC/m2, ti means time, Pni means the average net photosynthetic rate in the period of ti. The 0.0432 is a coefficient to turn the lmol CO2/m2 s to gC/m2, the former is the net photosynthetic rate and the later is the daily carbon accumulation of the unit area leave.
3.2. Effects of the substitute media on the plant morphology of the New Guinea Impatiens The crown width, plant height, branch number, flower number, flower diameter, leaf number, single leaf area, fresh and dry
Table 1 Developing of New Guinea Impatiens root in different growing media. Type of media
Position of medium ball (cm)
30 Days after planted
60 Days after planted
Root number
Root length (cm)
Root weight (g)
Total root weight (g)
Root number
Root length (cm)
Root weight (g)
Total root weight (g)
Percentage of each portion (%)
PM
0–10 10–20 20–30
29.3 4.0 0.0
341.19 96.72 0.00
2.32 0.66 0.00
2.98a
34.8 46.9 55.4
669.82 1091.26 1273.28
4.55 7.32 8.66
20.53ab
22.16 35.66 42.18
SD
0–10 10–20 20–30
29.3 13.0 0.7
515.32 182.85 45.70
3.51 1.25 0.93
5.07b
45.2 66.8 79.6
768.61 990.27 1374.57
4.93 6.78 9.45
21.17ab
23.29 32.03 44.64
PCC
0–10 10–20 20–30
50.0 19.3 4.7
642.01 232.57 140.34
4.37 1.58 0.96
6.91c
49.3 71.2 66.7
768.76 1280.62 1250.53
5.20 8.64 8.15
21.99b
23.65 39.29 37.06
PMC
0–10 10–20 20–30
38.3 17.0 3.7
525.33 192.27 132.34
3.58 1.31 0.90
5.79bc
46.8 58.9 64.3
770.22 1154.38 1152.77
5.45 7.78 7.80
21.03ab
25.92 36.99 37.09
PSS
0–10 10–20 20–30
39.3 19.7 1.3
547.43 202.22 84.83
3.73 1.38 0.87
5.68bc
48.6 67.2 73.5
682.29 1121.06 961.05
4.91 7.72 6.46
19.09a
25.72 40.44 33.84
PPH
0–10 10–20 20–30
41.7 15.3 0.0
666.71 186.62 0.00
4.54 1.27 0.00
5.81bc
52.3 69.7 73.6
790.04 1025.35 1270.35
5.27 6.72 8.57
20.57ab
25.62 32.67 41.66
Note: Different lowercase letters in the Total root weight column indicated significant difference at P = 0.05 level.
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Fig. 2. Root growth of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media.
Table 2 Plant morphology of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media. Media
Crown width (cm)
Plant height (cm)
Branch number
Flower number
Flower diameter (mm)
Leaf number
Single leaf area (cm2)
Fresh biomass of aboveground (g)
Dry biomass of aboveground (g)
Comprehensive index
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
33.7a 40.0b 40.2b 35.7a 34.3a 39.8b
18.3a 20.8b 20.3b 18.9a 18.2a 20.0b
5.3 ns 5.4 ns 5.7 ns 5.4 ns 5.2 ns 5.6 ns
46.3ab 49.3b 50.0c 43.3a 44.8ab 44.7ab
49.6ab 51.8b 55.5c 48.4a 48.8ab 48.6a
70.8ab 76.2ab 78.8b 73.3ab 70.1a 70.2a
29.47ab 34.92c 37.35d 28.18a 34.22c 29.99b
149.6ab 162.9b 166.4b 135.8a 160.1ab 150.2ab
11.9ab 12.5ab 13.0b 11.0a 12.2ab 11.6ab
0.22 0.76 0.98 0.15 0.27 0.41
Note: Different lowercase letters in the same column indicated significant difference at P = 0.05 level.
biomass of aboveground and so on are surveyed in the experiment. It showed that, the growths of the plants in substitute media are all exceeded that in PM or only below the contrast indistinctly. (Table 2 and Figs. 3 and 4). There are so many evaluation indexes to indicate the state of plant growing, but the single index is unilateral to illustrate the comprehensive character of the plant. So we use comprehensive
index to estimate the plant. It showed that comprehensive index of the plant in PMC is 0.15 under the plant in PM whose comprehensive index is 0.22. This suggested that the PMC is not a very good cultivating medium for the New Guinea Impatiens. The comprehensive indexes of plants in PCC and SD are 0.76 and 0.98, and the comprehensive indexes of plants in PSS and PPH are all higher than that in PM. It means that those four kinds of substitutes can
Fig. 3. The New Guinea Impatiens in middle period of growth in different media.
Fig. 4. The New Guinea Impatiens in flowering period in different media.
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Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of leaf (light quantum/s cm2)
0–100 s
0–100 s
50–100 s
91.1b 100.3c 102.8c 80.0a 92.9b 98.9c
259.0 ns 261.5 ns 243.4 ns 253.3 ns 273.8 ns 275.3 ns
58.7b 64.6c 63.4c 51.2a 55.2ab 60.3bc
Note: Different lowercase letters in the same column indicated significant difference at P = 0.05 level.
1000
60
700 50
600 500
40
400
30
300
20
200 10
100
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of root (light quantum /sec·cm2)
800
0
11
21
31
41
51
61
71
81
70 60
600
50
500 40
400
30
300
20
200
10
100 0
0
1
11
21
31
41
51
61
71
81
91
50
500
40
400
30
300
20
200
10
100
0 11
21
31
41
51
61
71
81
1000
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of leaf (light quantum /sec·cm2)
80
700
60
600
1
90
800
70
700
0
PCC
900
80
800
91
1000
90
SD
900
0
1
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of leaf (light quantum /sec·cm2)
From Table 3 and Fig. 5, we can see that the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities of the New Guinea Impatiens root in the period of 0– 100 s are 102.8, 100.3, 98.9 light quantum/s cm2 in PCC, SD and PPH, significantly higher than that in PM, PSS and PMC. The Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities of the New Guinea Impatiens root in PMC is 80.0 light quantum/s cm2, significantly lower than that in PM. And there is no significant difference between the PSS and the PM.
70
PM
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of root (light quantum /sec·cm2)
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of leaf (light quantum /sec·cm2)
900
3.3. Effects of the substitute media on the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the New Guinea Impatiens leaf and root
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of root (light quantum /sec·cm2)
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of root (light quantum/s cm2)
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of leaf (light quantum /sec·cm2)
Type of media
be used to take place of the peat moss totally as soilless growing media. As to the PMC, it should be first adjusted appropriately before using.
91
PMC
900
70 60
800
50
700 600
40
500
30
400 300
20
200
10
100
0
0
1
11
21
31
41
51
61
71
Fig. 5. The Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the New Guinea Impatiens leave and root in different media.
81
91
Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of root (light quantum /sec·cm2)
Table 3 The Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the New Guinea Impatiens leave and root in different growing media.
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Table 4 The leave photosynthesis of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media. Type of media
Apparent quantum yield
Pn max (lmol CO2/m2 s)
Higher than PM by percent
Daily carbon accumulation gC/m2
Higher than PM by percent
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
0.0113 0.0121 0.0133 0.0120 0.0088 0.0082
4.70 4.73 5.15 5.08 4.10 4.18
– 0.6 9.6 8.1 12.8 11.1
1.17 1.27 1.29 1.20 1.11 1.07
– 8.5 10.3 2.6 5.1 8.5
The Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the leaf may be interfered by the environmental factors, especially the temperature and light. In the course of test the leaf was put into measuring cup in which is dark and closed by thermal coating, it blocked the channels of energy exchange between the leaf and the circumstance, so the UltraWeak Photon Intensity of the leaf will decrease rapidly, and then leveled off. So the authors take the view that Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the leaf after leveled off can indicate the photoluminescence characteristic more accurately. It showed that in the period of 0–100 s, there is no significant difference among all the treatments of the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the leaves. But in the period of 50–100 s, the differences of the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity of the leaves among all the treatments are different significantly, and the trend is similar to that of the root. This demonstrated that there is certain correlation of the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensity between root and leaf. 3.4. Effects of the substitute media on the photosynthesis of the New Guinea Impatiens It is showed in Table 4 and Fig. 6 that the daily maximum net photosynthetic rate of the plant in PCC is 5.15 lmol CO2/m2 s, and the daily carbon accumulation is 1.29 gC/m2, higher than that in PM by 9.6% and 10.3%. The net photosynthetic rate and the daily carbon accumulation of the plant in PMC are higher than that in PM by 8.1% and 2.6%, but in the PSS and the PPH net photosynthetic
rates are lower than that in PM by 12.8% and 11.1%, and the daily carbon accumulation are lower than in PM by 5.1% and 8.5%. That is very different to the data of morphology evaluation indexes. 3.5. Effects of the substitute media on the content of the mineral elements and chlorophyll of the New Guinea Impatiens leaf There is no significant difference of the contents of the N, K, Ca, Mg in the New Guinea Impatiens leaves of the plant planted in the substitute media mentioned above. But the contents of the P of the plants planted in SD, PCC and PMC are significantly lower than that in PM. According to the elements contents of Mn, Zn, Cu, Fe, there is no significant difference among all the growing media including PM. Broadly speaking there is no obvious changing regularity of the contents of the mineral elements in New Guinea Impatiens leaves. The correlativity analyzing between the elements contents of New Guinea Impatiens leaves and the unused growing media showed that the relativities of the N, and P are 0.6436 and 0.5440. But to the other elements, the relativities are very low and even negative correlations are found. So according to the author there is no noticeable effect of the growing medium itself on the elements contents of the plant. The determinant may be the nutrients solution (Table 5). There is no significant difference of the contents of chlorophylla, chlorophyll-b and total chlorophyll in the plant that planted in the substitute media between the PM. The content of chlorophyll-a of the plant in SD is 1.335 mg/g FW which is significantly lower than that in PSS (Table 6). As stated previously, under almost the same growth conditions, the Hoagland nutrients solution can make a steady and balanced supply of nutrients for the plant which cannot be evidently disturbed by the type of media. 3.6. Effects of the substitute media on the growth of the New Guinea Impatiens after blossoming without fertilization
Fig. 6. Daily Pn profiles of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media.
The data in Table 7 displayed that fresh biomass and dry biomass of the plants in PM increased by 20.6% and 21.3% after 2 months of no fertilization, and the corresponding data of the plant in substitute media also increased slightly, but he scopes were all smaller than that in PM. The crown widths of the plants
Table 5 Content of mineral elements of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media. Type of media
N (%)
P (%)
K (%)
Ca (%)
Mg (%)
Mn (mg/kg)
Zn (mg/kg)
Cu (mg/kg)
Fe (mg/kg)
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
3.31 ns 3.01 ns 2.86 ns 2.58 ns 2.53 ns 2.83 ns
0.29b 0.24a 0.24a 0.23a 0.25ab 0.25ab
1.53 ns 1.45 ns 1.55 ns 1.45 ns 1.51 ns 1.56 ns
1.10 ns 1.04 ns 1.13 ns 1.15 ns 0.92 ns 1.22 ns
0.26 ns 0.27 ns 0.26 ns 0.28 ns 0.26 ns 0.25 ns
229.17a 361.33c 251.04a 549.68d 292.29ab 323.40b
120.96d 193.93e 93.94c 46.95b 25.45a 39.90b
14.54b 17.45c 12.77b 13.52b 7.11a 5.96a
245.37a 403.22c 351.67b 752.97d 274.86ab 354.99b
Relativities*
0.6436
0.5440
0.7753
0.3286
0.4717
0.8901
0.3369
0.0294
0.4456
Note: Different lowercase letters in the same column indicated significant difference at P = 0.05 level. Relativities between elements contents of growing medium itself and the elements contents of the plant.
*
L. Qing-chao et al. / Acta Ecologica Sinica 33 (2013) 293–300 Table 6 Chlorophyll content of the New Guinea Impatiens in different media. Type of media
Chlorophyll a mg/g FW
Chlorophyll b mg/g FW
Total chlorophyll mg/g FW
a/b
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
1.472ab 1.335a 1.414ab 1.381ab 1.572b 1.482ab
0.568 ns 0.533 ns 0.552 ns 0.551 ns 0.583 ns 0.569 ns
2.040 ns 1.867 ns 1.965 ns 1.932 ns 2.155 ns 2.051 ns
2.603 ns 2.502 ns 2.562 ns 2.503 ns 2.723 ns 2.605 ns
Note: Different lowercase letters in the same column indicated significant difference at P = 0.05 level.
Table 7 Development of the plants after 2 months of no fertilization (increasing percentage). Type of media
Fresh biomass (%)
Dry biomass (%)
Crown width (%)
Leaf number (%)
PM SD PCC PMC PSS PPH
20.6 14.4 18.8 16.5 17.7 18.7
21.3 9.5 13.1 11.0 19.3 9.6
4.6 3.0 2.6 9.2 6.4 3.3
7.2 8.3 7.3 6.4 6.7 4.5
in PMC and PSS increased by 9.2% and 6.4%, both higher than that in PM who was 4.6%. But in the other substitute media, the growth rates were all lower than 4.6%. In that period, the plants in SD, PCC, PMC and PSS seriously lose one’s leaves by about 7%. Of the plant in PM and PPH, the numbers leaf increased by 7.2% and 4.5%, though there were also the renovation and dropping of the leaves.
4. Discussions The root is the vegetative organ of the plant underground, and its also an active organ specialized for sucking and compounding nourishment. Together with the organ of aboveground, they make up a production system. The physical and chemical characteristics of the growing media greatly effect the developing of the root system, and then indirectly affect the morphogenesis of the aboveground. There is a physical contact between the root system and the growing medium, the medium of superior quality can afford a favorable root rhizosphere and steady supplying of the water and nutrients. In this cultivating experiment, all the substitute media (except lees) can fit for the growth of the root system without disturbing the spatial development especially the downward growth of the root. The quality is the key factor of horticulture production. The growing medium is a Complex System composed of biologic factors and abiotic factors, and it affects the growth and development of the plant. Morphogenesis of the New Guinea Impatiens plants in substitute media were surveyed in this article and also the biomass, content of mineral element, content of chlorophylls and so on. The result showed that the morphology indexes of the New Guinea Impatiens plants in substitute media are all better than that in PM, or at least there is no significant difference. The data of biomass also appears similar trend. But PMC does not meet the requirements of the New Guinea Impatiens plants for the comprehensive growth indexes of the plant in the PMC are lower than that in PM. Emission of light as a result of chemical and physical reaction represents the basic process of the biological activities. With the development of the photon detection techniques, it is found that there is a kind of slightest light radiation from all the living organisms which is called Ultra-Weak Photon. The Ultra-Weak Photon is
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very different to bioluminescence and chemiluminescence for its spectra ranging from 180 nm to 800 nm, its illumination intensity is only 10–104 light quantum/s cm2,and its quantum efficiency is only 1014 to 109. There is close interrelation between the ubiquitous emission of light and the metabolism, the detoxifcation, the cell division, the photosynthesis and the growth regulation. The Ultra-Weak Photon technique had been used in many researching area by biologist and therapist [16–23]. There are some reports on the relationship between the Ultra-Weak Photon and the plant resistance of the crops [24–32]. But as for the relationship of the Ultra-Weak Photon of the root and leaf and the growing media were not reported as yet. This paper deals with the influence of the substitute media on the Ultra-Weak Photon of the roots and leaves of the New Guinea Impatiens plants. The results indicated that Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities of the roots and leaves of the plants in most substitute media are higher than that in PM, or lower than that in PM without significant difference. There is interrelationship of the Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities between the root system and the leaves. In addition, the author noticed that, in the period of 0–100 s, the average Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities of the leaves are obviously higher than that of the roots, but in the period of 50–100 s, the average Ultra-Weak Photon Intensities of the leaves are lower than root obviously. Can this be used to explain that under dark circumstance vital movement of the root is more violent than leaf? Further test and verification are needed. The requirement of the mineral elements that needed in the process of plant developing of the New Guinea Impatiens is very low [33–37]. The Hoagland nutrients solution can supply the mineral elements effectively for the developing of the plants, sucking of the nutrients and compounding of the Chlorophyll without obvious effect with the changing of the growing media according to this experiment. And there is no significant difference of the contents of mineral elements in the plant of New Guinea Impatiens in substitute media. This further proved that the agricultural castoffs that contain great deal of cellulose can be used as growing media after fermented for the New Guinea Impatiens pot planting, the plant morphologies are better than or at least similar to that in PM. Its true that the photosynthesis can be affected by the physical and chemical characteristics of the growing media, but under the circumstances of this experiment its difficult to indicate the growth condition of the New Guinea Impatiens plants by the net photosynthetic rates and the daily carbon accumulation. In order to probe into the relationship of the plant photosynthesis and the morphologies in substitute media a lot of samples should be surveyed. But there is great interrelationship between the photosynthesis of the plants and the growing media. Few simple growth indexes of the New Guinea Impatiens were used to survey the development of the plants in substitute media after long time of no fertilizer. General speaking, 3 months after the last time fertilizing, the indexes of dry/fresh biomass and crown diameter of the plants all increased in varying degrees, but the plants in PM increased the most. All the plants in all growing media lost their basal leaves, but according to the plants in PM and PPH the leaf number improved some, and the leaf number of the plants in other growing media decreased. Based on the above data analysis, it is suggested that most plant fibrous material can be used as substitute media to take place of the PM totally or partially in cultivation for the New Guinea Impatiens and the growth potential were generally better than that in PM. But the substitute media have lower performance of preserving moisture and fertility, under normal cultivating conditions, the plants developed well, but in order to keep the plant in good conditions, the substitute media depend more on extraneous nutrients from nutrients solution than PM.
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