Biomass allocation, compensatory growth and internal C/N balance of Lolium perenne in response to defoliation and light treatments

Light environments can have a considerable influence on how plants respond to defoliation through influencing the biomass allocation patterns and internal C/N ratio. Seedlings of Lolium perenne, a common perennial grass species, were grown for eight weeks under three different light environments (natural light, red light and shading) and two different defoliation treatments (no defoliation versus 50% aboveground biomass removal). This study was conducted to examine (1) the effects of light regimes and defoliation on biomass accumulation, biomass allocation and internal C/N ratio status in plants; (2) how the light regimes influence the pattern of compensatory growth after defoliation; and (3) the relationship between compensatory growth and the internal C/N ratio status. We found that red light altered the shoot-to root allometry, enhanced the leaf C concentrations and induced N deficiency. By contrast, the leaf N concentrations of L. perenne were greater during shading treatment, which simultaneously enhanced shoot growth and stopped root growth. Under defoliation, red light increased shoot growth, not at the expense of root growth, which was not the same as in natural light and shading treatment. Moreover, regardless of the unclipped (no defoliation) and defoliation conditions, the L. perenne biomass partitioning between roots and shoots was significantly correlated with the leaf N concentrations and C/N ratio, indicating that allometric biomass allocation can be largely modulated by signals related to the C and N status of the plants. These results demonstrated that the leaf C and N status would be an appropriate indicator of compensatory growth after defoliation