Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2015, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (1): 83-89.DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1259.2015.00083

• EXPERIMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Cluster Planting Pattern on Intraspecific Interactions of Cotton

Tingting Xie1, *, Peixi Su2, Zijuan Zhou2, Lishan Shan3, Shanjia Li2   

  1. 1Linze Inland River Basin Research Station/Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology and Integrated River Basin Science, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
    2Linze Inland River Basin Research Station/Key Laboratory of Land Surface Process and Climate Change in Cold and Arid Regions, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
    3College of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
  • Received:2013-12-02 Accepted:2014-04-03 Online:2015-01-01 Published:2015-04-09
  • Contact: Xie Tingting
  • About author:

    ? These authors contributed equally to this paper

Abstract: We aimed to investigate the effect of a cluster-planting pattern on intraspecific interactions and test whether cluster planting can modify the type and intensity of intraspecific interactions, thus increasing yield. The growth characteristics of different organs of cotton under cluster and traditional planting patterns were studied and the effect of different hole distances on intraspecific interactions were analyzed. As compared with the traditional planting pattern of one plant in a hole, with cluster planting, the stem growth was reduced significantly, along with decreased hole distance, but the leaf growth and yield was highest with 28 cm hole distance. Moreover, different hole distances significantly affected the relative neighbor effect (RNE): the stem RNE increased then decreased with decreasing hole distance, but the values were all negative and the intensity of the negative effect was minimal with the 28 cm hole distance. Leaf and yield RNE were posi- tive and the intensity of the positive effect was maximal with the 28 cm hole distance. Cluster planting may effect intraspecific interactions. This facilitation is maximal for yield of cotton with the 28 cm hole distance.