ABSTRACT
The samples of different age (1-4 years old) Phyllostachys praecox plants and their organs (leaf, branch, and culm) were collected from their main production area in Lin' an County, Zhejiang Province of East China to study the contents and the uptake and accumulation characteristics of silicon and other nutritional elements, as well as the interrelations between Si and other nutrient elements. In the P. praecox plants, the C content in aboveground part was in the order of culm > branch> leaf, whereas the Si, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Al, Fe and Mn contents were in the order of leaf > branch > culm. Mn was mainly accumulated in leaf, while the other nine nutrient elements were mainly accumulated in the culm of 1-year old plants. The average Si content in the aboveground part of 3-4 year old plants was 13.66 g x kg(-1), suggesting that P. praecox belonged to Si accumulation plant. The leaf N, P, K, and Mg contents decreased, while the C, Al, and Mn contents increased with increasing plant age. The Si uptake by the aboveground part was mainly occurred in the second year (57.1%), while the N and K uptake was mainly in the first two years (67.7% - 93.7%). Thereafter, the N and K flowed out from the aboveground part, with the outflow rates reached 19.1% - 39.1% of the total accumulated amounts. The Si in P. praecox was significantly correlated with Ca, Al, and Mn, and negatively correlated with N, P, K, and Mg.
