Abstract:

This paper summarized the study progress in mechanisms for plant responses to exponential fertilization technique in the nursery and in the field. 1) Exponential fertilization regime promotes nutrient uptake and nutrient load efficiently; 2) In the process of the exponential fertilization, biomass and nutrient content increase significantly as nutrient supply increases during the nutrient deficiency phase; higher internal nutrients reserved during the luxury nutrient consumption phase, and toxicity occurs if applied nutrient quantities exceed the optimum level; 3) The exponential fertilization regime promotes nutrient retranslocation after transplantation, due to high nutrient reserves in the seedlings reared in this regime, which is good for establish of the transplanted seedlings. There are much researches on the exponential fertilization regimes abroad, and in the future this technique should be studied in China to help promote seedling quality.

Key words: seedling, exponential fertilization, nutrient loading, biomass, transplant, nutrient retranslocation