Effects of rooting medium on the growth and nutrient accumulation in Potamogeton natans L.

Abstract

Growth, biomass, quantitative morphological characteristics of shoots, percentage contents and standing stocks of mineral nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) accumulated in shoots were studied in Potamogeton natans: (a) occurring in a dense and nearly pure stand in an eutrophic managed fishpond, and (b) cultivated in outdoor experiments in rooting media (either sediments or soils transferred from the field, or synthetic media) containing different percentages of nutrients and organic matter in their dry weight. Both the field observations and cultivation experiments have proved a relatively high tolerance of Potamogeton natans to relatively high nutrient concentrations in sediments associated with a low tolerance to high concentrations of organic matter in the rhizosphere. © Société botanique de France 1995.