Abstract

Seasonal changes of symbiotic nitrogen-fixation activity and growth characteristics of four different natural populations of kummerowia striata were quantitatively analyzed during the growing period. the nitrogen-fixation activity of root nodules attained the maximum rates of 148, 132, 102 and 100$\muM\;C_2H_4\;\cdot\;g\;fw\;nodule^{-1}\;\cdot\;hr^{-1}$, respectively for sunny, multibranched, shade and unibranched populations at the optimum growth conditions. and the seasonal changes showed fluctuations by environmental conditions such as light, temperature, nutrient contents, water stress and plant ages, etc. The multibranched plant showed the greater amount of leaf and root nodule biomass, and the higher nitrogenase activity than the unibranched plant. the optimum conditions of leaf chloropht11 and water content of each organ indicated the active growth and the maximum fresh biomass of 4 different populations were 1.92, 1.85, 0.97 and 0.56 g $fw\cdotplant^{-1}$ for shade multibranched, sunny and unibranched populations, respectively.

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