Phosphorus-use efficiency of kale genotypes from coastal Croatia

ABSTRACT

Understanding the mechanisms of phosphorus (P)-use efficiency (PUE) may contribute to enhancing crop P nutrition because species growth variability at low-P is well known. The experiment was carried out to evaluate the response of kale genotypes to different P supply in randomized block design in three replications. Low-P supply led to a decrease in most parameters, whereas an increase was recorded in root growth parameters. Genotypes differed in shoot dry weight (DW), leaf area, root length and area, and shoot and root P content and concentration. Root traits significantly positively correlated with PUE. Genotypes Red Russian (RR) and IJK 17 were superior in terms of shoot DW production at low P supply, and had the highest uptake efficiency. Genotypes IJK 17 and 81 had the highest P utilization efficiency, while Vates blue curled (VBC) showed the lowest PUE. Genotypes had similar shoot P content and concentration at low P supply, but large PUE differences, implying the importance of P utilization efficiency.

KEYWORDS:

• Genotypic variation
• P uptake and utilization
• root parameters
• nutrient solution

Acknowledgments

We thank M. Cagalj and M. Runjic for their technical help at harvest and S. Milisic and I. Bogdanovic for chemical analyses. We especially thank Zed Rengel (University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia) for valuable comments on a previous version of this manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia, project “Abiotic and biotic stress factors in vegetable production on karst” (091-0910468-0281).