Abstract
Abstract The elemental ratios of plant tissues are associated with the adaptive and competitive success of a plant species in an ecosystem. So far, no study has evaluated if and how crop–weed competition influences the elemental ratios of competing populations, although such information is important to understand weed infestation dynamics and to improve weed management in agroecosystems. The objective of this study was to analyze weed–crop elemental ratios during interspecific competition between weeds and crops in greenhouse experiments. For this, maize ( Zea mays L.) and the weeds Amaranthus viridis L, Bidens pilosa L., and Ipomoea grandifolia (Dammer) O'Donell were grown under seven treatments: maize and weed monocultures, and maize in competition with weeds. Competition between plants practically did not influence growth and nutrient contents of maize but reduced weed growth and nutrient uptake. Maize showed few changes in elemental ratios. In contrast, B. pilosa and I. grandifolia were very sensitive to competition and showed significant increases in C : N, C : P, C : K, N : P, and N : K ratios when grown with maize. A. viridis showed low flexibility of nutrient : nutrient ratios under the same competitive pressure as that faced by B. pilosa and I. grandifolia . The interspecific competition led to increases only in the C : P ratio of A. viridis shoots. Therefore, interspecific competition changes the elemental ratios, mainly of the weeds, and the magnitude of this change is dependent on the plant species involved. Interspecific competition changes plant biomass quality (higher C : nutrient ratios), mainly for B. pilosa and I. grandifolia .
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Competition had little effect on maize growth and nutrient content.
- Treatment
- Competition between plantse0
- Outcome
- growth and nutrient contents of maizee0
- Direction
- practically did not influencee0
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Competition between plants practically did not influence growth and nutrient contents of maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Competition reduced weed growth and nutrient uptake.
- Treatment
- Competition between plantse0
- Interactor
- weedst0weed
- Outcome
- weed growth and nutrient uptakee0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Competition between plants practically did not influence growth and nutrient contents of maize but reduced weed growth and nutrient uptake.”
t0“weeds and maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Maize elemental ratios changed little.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Maize showed few changes in elemental ratios.”
Claim · model-written summary
B. pilosa C:N, C:P, C:K, N:P and N:K ratios increased significantly with maize.
- Treatment
- grown with maizee0
- Interactor
- B. pilosa
Bidens pilosae0weed - Outcome
- C : N, C : P, C : K, N : P, and N : K ratiose0
- Direction
- increasese0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“B. pilosa and I. grandifolia were very sensitive to competition and showed significant increases in C : N, C : P, C : K, N : P, and N : K ratios when grown with maize.”
Claim · model-written summary
I. grandifolia C:N, C:P, C:K, N:P and N:K ratios increased significantly with maize.
- Treatment
- grown with maizee0
- Interactor
- I. grandifolia
Ipomoea grandifoliae0weed - Outcome
- C : N, C : P, C : K, N : P, and N : K ratiose0
- Direction
- increasese0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“B. pilosa and I. grandifolia were very sensitive to competition and showed significant increases in C : N, C : P, C : K, N : P, and N : K ratios when grown with maize.”
Claim · model-written summary
A. viridis nutrient ratios showed low flexibility under maize competition.
- Interactor
- A. viridis
Amaranthus viridise0weed - Outcome
- nutrient : nutrient ratiose0
- Direction
- low flexibilitye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“A. viridis showed low flexibility of nutrient : nutrient ratios under the same competitive pressure as that faced by B. pilosa and I. grandifolia .”
t0“weeds and maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Interspecific competition increased the C:P ratio of A. viridis shoots only.
- Treatment
- interspecific competitione0
- Interactor
- A. viridisAmaranthus viridise0weed
- Outcome
- C : P ratio of A. viridis shootse0
- Direction
- increasese0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The interspecific competition led to increases only in the C : P ratio of A. viridis shoots.”
t0“weeds and maize”
The same questions in other papers
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competition · growth · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
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See all 19 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.