Table 2.

Biomass partitioning and root to shoot ratio of 7-month-old pin oak (Quercus palustris) seedlings grown in either acidic or alkaline soil medium and inoculated with live or autoclaved soil from 3 different sites.

Soil pH1Site2Autoclaved inoculumShoot mass(g)Root mass(g)Total mass(g)Root/shoot
AcidicForestNo1.63 a5.32 ab36.97 a3.23 a
AcidicChloroticNo1.73 a5.31 ab7.06 a3.01 a
AcidicNon-chloroticNo2.00 a5.57 a7.60 a2.99 a
AcidicForestYes1.13 a3.09 cd4.27 a2.62 a
AcidicChloroticYes1.73 a3.33 bcd5.09 a2.03 a
AcidicNon-chloroticYes2.03 a4.68 abc6.77 a2.31 a
AlkalineForestNo1.13 a2.15 d3.34 a1.92 a
AlkalineChloroticNo1.53 a3.41 bcd4.98 a2.22 a
AlkalineNon-chloroticNo1.73 a4.40 abc6.18 a2.47 a
AlkalineForestYes1.37 a3.28 bcd4.69 a2.22 a
AlkalineChloroticYes1.57 a4.17 abcd5.80 a2.66 a
AlkalineNon-chloroticYes1.57 a4.54 abc6.16 a2.76 a
Means1.604.105.742.54
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE
Model0.405740.04590.06080.4138
PH0.16160.03760.04110.1718
Site0.04110.04150.02330.8376
Inoculation0.70180.22220.28340.3782
pH*Site0.81830.58210.76130.2738
pH*lnoculation0.55490.00740.01960.0247
Site*lnoculation0.92730.97050.97980.9796
pH*Site*lnoculation0.46520.49140.43770.8844
  • 1 Acidic soil pH = 5.5 and alkaline soil pH = 7.5.

  • 2 Soil inoculum from pin oak forest stand, urban chlorotic pin oak trees, and urban non-chlorotic pin oak trees.

  • 3 Means (n = 36) in the same column with a different letter are significantly different at the α = 0.05 level using a Fisher’s protected LSD.

  • 4 Significance probabilities from the F statistic from an ANOVA. Significant values (P ≤ 0.05) in bold.