Abstract:

Soil culture experiment at two phosphorus levels was conducted to study the relationship between phosphorus environment and growth as well as dry mater accumulation of six classical Chinese tulip tree provenances from various areas.The result showed that phosphorus supply would accelerate the growth and dry matter accumulation of Liriodendron chinese ,which would adapt to phosphorus starvation by increasing root-shoot-ratio and the relative value of root parameters.The western provenances were observed to grow better at two phosphorus levels than the eastern ones. The response model of phosphorus was varied with the provenances tested.It was found that Tongdao of Hunan and Wuyishan of Fujian were less sensitivity to phosphorus with high phosphorus efficiency and productivity,while Shaoyang of Hunan and Suichang of Zhejiang were more sensitivity to phosphorus with low phosphorus efficiency. Well-developed lateral root system and more fibrous roots under low phosphorus was perhaps one of the important reasons for the provenances with high phosphorus efficiency.It was preliminarily determined that Liping of Guizhou was an excellent provenance with moderate sensitivity to phosphorus, while Tongdao of Hunan was superior provenance with high tolerability to low phosphorus stress or high phosphorus efficiency.

Key words: Liriodendron chinese, provenances, phosphorus environment, growth, dry matter accumulation