Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2017, Vol. 52 ›› Issue (3): 271-276.DOI: 10.11983/CBB16203

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Assessment of Phosphate and Nitrogen Deficiency in Sheepgrass by Chlorophyll Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Lingyu Li1,2, Haomeng Yang1, Weibo Ren3, Xinhong Wu3, Fang Huang1*   

  1. 1Key Laboratory of Photobiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
    2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Hohhot 010010, China
  • Received:2016-10-21 Accepted:2017-01-18 Online:2017-05-01 Published:2017-05-27
  • Contact: Huang Fang
  • About author:

    # Co-first authors

Abstract: Sheepgrass (Leymus chinensis) is a forage plant species dominant in the north steppes. Accurate assessment of nutritional status of L. chinensis is essential to rational management of the grassland. For accurate assessment, we characterized and compared the photochemical activity of PSII and PSI in L. chinensis under Pi and N deprivation by using chlorophyll fluorescence spectroscopy. The effect of N deficiency on L. chinensis seedlings was greater than Pi deprivation. After 20 days of N-deprivation, chlorophyll content decreased nearly 50%. The activity of PSII was more affected than was PSI on the basis of in situ steady chlorophyll fluorescence measurements and light responsive curves. As compared with control plants, N-deprivated plants showed reduced Φ(II) and Φ(I) by 30.3% and 38.5%, and ETR(II) and ETR(I) were reduced 30.8% and 28.9%. Under Pi deprivation, the decreased values of Φ(II) and ETR(II) were about 1/2 those detected in N-deprivated plants. These quantitative results of chlorophyll fluorescence analysis provide new insights into photochemical characteristics of L. chinensis under N- and Pi-deficiency and also a valuable approach for efficient assessment of the nutritional status of L. chinensis plants.