INCREASES IN PHOSPHORUS REQUIREMENTS FOR CO2-ENRICHED PINE SPECIES

Pinus radiata D. Don (half-sib families 20010 and 20062) and Pinus caribaea var hondurensis (an open-pollinated family) were grown for 49 weeks at seven levels of phosphorus and at CO2 concentrations of either 340 or 660 microliters per liter, to establish if the phosphorus requirements differed between the CO2 concentrations and if mycorrhizal associations were affected. When soil phosphorus availability was low, phosphorus uptake was increased by elevated CO2. This may have been related to changes in mycorrhizal competition. When the phosphorus concentration in the youngest fully expanded needles was above 600 milligrams per kilogram the shoot weight of all pine families was greater at high CO2 due to increases in rates of photosynthesis. More dry weight was partitioned to the stems of P. radiata family 20010 and P. caribaea. At foliar phosphorus concentrations above 1000 milligrams per kilogram (P. radiata) and 700 milligrams per kilogram (P. caribaea), growth did not increase at 340 microliters of CO2 per liter. Soluble sugar levels in the same needles mirrored the growth response, but the starch concentration declined with increasing phosphorus. At 660 microliters of CO2 per liter, shoot weight and soluble sugar concentrations were still increasing up to a foliar P concentration of 1800 milligrams per kilogram for P. radiata and 1600 milligrams per kilogram for P. caribaea. The starch concentrations did not decline. These results indicate that higher foliar phosphorus concentrations are required to realize the maximum growth potential of pines at elevated CO2.