Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T14:24:49.493Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effect of Soil pH, Soil Water, Light Intensity, and Temperature on Perennial Sowthistle (Sonchus arvensis L.)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

Richard K. Zollinger
Affiliation:
Dep. Crop and Soil Sci., Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI 48824
James J. Kells
Affiliation:
Dep. Crop and Soil Sci., Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI 48824

Abstract

Growth of perennial sowthistle was examined under different levels of soil pH, soil moisture content, light intensity, and temperature. Soil pH ranging from 5.2 to 7.2 had little effect on the number of leaves, rosette diameter, plant height, and number of capitula. However, total dry weight was 30% less in plants grown in soil of pH 5.2 compared to those grown at higher soil pH levels. Perennial sowthistle demonstrated a consistent positive growth response to increasing soil water including saturation. Severe reduction in vegetative and reproductive growth occurred in plants grown in soil below field capacity. Plants grown under full light (1015 μE m−2 s−1 photosynthetic photon flux density) developed a fourfold increase in the number of capitula per plant and a 50% increase in total dry weight compared to plants grown at 285 μE m−2 s−1. Initiation of reproduction was delayed 4 weeks for plants grown at 580 μE m−2 s−1 and 285 μE m−2 s−1. Plants grown under less than full light developed fewer but larger leaves. Plants grown under a day/night temperature of 20/15 C grew more rapidly than those under 30/25 C or 10/5 C. Plants at 30/25 C began to senesce 7 to 8 weeks after planting. Net carbon assimilation, leaf conductance, transpiration, and water use efficiency decreased as soil moisture and light intensity decreased. Plants at 30/25 C had the highest rate of transpiration and the lowest water use efficiency. The observed optimum for perennial sowthistle growth occurred at a soil pH of 6.2 or 7.2, water-saturated soil, high light intensity, and a temperature of 20/15 C, day/night.

Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 by the Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

1. Begg, J. E. and Turner, N. C. 1976. Crop water deficits. Pages 161217 in Advances in Agronomy 28. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI.Google Scholar
2. Bell, A. R., Nalewaja, J. D., Alam, S., Schooler, A. B., and Hsieh, T. S. 1973. Herbicide response and morphology of interspecific sowthistle crosses. Weed Sci. 21:189193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Bell, A. R., Nalewaja, J. D., and Schooler, A. B. 1973. Response of perennial sowthistle selections to herbicides. Crop Sci. 13:191194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Black, C. A. 1965. Pages 128314 in Black, C. A., ed. Methods of Soil Analysis. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Boulos, L. 1961. Cytotaxonomic studies in the genus Sonchus. 3. On cytotaxonomy and distribution of Sonchus arvensis L. Bot. Not. 114:5764.Google Scholar
6. Boyer, J. S. 1982. Plant productivity and environment. Science 218:443448.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Braidek, J. T., Fedec, P., and Jones, D. 1984. Field survey of halophytic plants of undisturbed sites on the Canadian Prairies. Can. J. Plant Sci. 64:745–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Buchanan, G. A., Hoveland, C. S., and Harris, M. C. 1975. Response of weeds to soil pH. Weed Sci. 23:473477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Christenson, D. R. and Ferguson, H. 1966. The effect of interactions of salts and clays on unsaturated water flow. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 30:549551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Fernald, M. L. and Wiegand, K. M. 1910. A summer's botanizing in Eastern Maine and Western New Brunswick. Part II. Rhodora 12:101146.Google Scholar
11. Kramer, P. J. and Kozlowski, T. T. 1981. Physiology of woody plants. Academic Press, New York. Pages 402444.Google Scholar
12. McIntyre, G. I. 1987. The role of water in the regulation of plant development. Can. J. Bot. 65:12871298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Moon, J. W. and Flore, J. A. 1986. A basic computer program for calculation of photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and related parameters in a gas exchange system. Photosynth. Res. 7:269279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14. Sams, C. E. and Flore, J. A. 1982. The influence of age, position, and environmental variables on net photosynthesis of sour cherry leaves. J. Am. Soc. Hortic. Sci. 107:339344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Zollinger, R. K. 1989. Perennial sowthistle distribution, biology, and control in Michigan. Ph.D. Thesis, Michigan State Univ. 215 pp.Google Scholar