Growth perfomance of <i>Acer oblongum</i> seedlings under different levels of light, moisture and nutrient

Abstract

In present study, seedlings of Acer oblongum seedlings were raised and kept under different light, moisture and nutrient level. At each gradient growth of seedlings increased with increasing resource availability, except the light gradient where growth decreased at highest level. Leaf number and leaf area also followed the same pattern. Relative performance of seedlings indicated that the low light intensity has most severe effect than moisture and nutrient. Leaf area ratio decreased with increasing light intensity and increased with increasing moisture availability and showed fluctuating pattern along the nutrient gradient. Percent leaf drops decreased with increasing light and moisture availability and increased with increasing nutrient availability. Response breadth was broader on moisture gradient (0.984) followed by nutrient (0.889) and light (0.699) gradient. Keywords: growth, light, moisture, nutrient, relative performance, leaf area ratio.