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Spectroscopic analysis reveals that soil phosphorus availability and plant allocation strategies impact feedstock quality of nutrient-limited switchgrass.

ABSTRACT: The perennial native switchgrass adapts better than other plant species do to marginal soils with low plant-available nutrients, including those with low phosphorus (P) content. Switchgrass roots and their associated microorganisms can alter the pools of available P throughout the whole soil profile making predictions of P availability in situ challenging. Plant P homeostasis makes monitoring of P limitation via measurements of plant P content alone difficult to interpret. To address these challenges, we developed a machine-learning model trained with high accuracy using the leaf tissue chemical profile, rather than P content. By applying this learned model in field trials across two sites with contrasting extractable soil P, we observed that actual plant available P in soil was more similar than expected, suggesting that adaptations occurred to alleviate the apparent P constraint. These adaptations come at a metabolic cost to the plant that have consequences for feedstock chemical components and quality. We observed that other biochemical signatures of P limitation, such as decreased cellulose-to-lignin ratios, were apparent, indicating re-allocation of carbon resources may have contributed to increased P acquisition. Plant P allocation strategies also differed across sites, and these differences were correlated with the subsequent year's biomass yields.

SUBMITTER: Hao Z

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8917137 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Spectroscopic analysis reveals that soil phosphorus availability and plant allocation strategies impact feedstock quality of nutrient-limited switchgrass.

Hao Zhao Z Wang Yuan Y Ding Na N Saha Malay C MC Scheible Wolf-Rüdiger WR Craven Kelly K Udvardi Michael M Nico Peter S PS Firestone Mary K MK Brodie Eoin L EL

Communications biology 20220311 1

The perennial native switchgrass adapts better than other plant species do to marginal soils with low plant-available nutrients, including those with low phosphorus (P) content. Switchgrass roots and their associated microorganisms can alter the pools of available P throughout the whole soil profile making predictions of P availability in situ challenging. Plant P homeostasis makes monitoring of P limitation via measurements of plant P content alone difficult to interpret. To address these chall ...[more]

PMID: 35277578

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Spectroscopic analysis reveals that soil phosphorus availability and plant allocation strategies impact feedstock quality of nutrient-limited switchgrass.

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Spectroscopic analysis reveals that soil phosphorus availability and plant allocation strategies impact feedstock quality of nutrient-limited switchgrass.

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