C and N allocation in soil under ryegrass and alfalfa estimated by 13C and 15N labelling

Below-ground translocated carbon (C) released as rhizodeposits is an important driver for microbial mobilization of nitrogen (N) for plants. We investigated how a limited substrate supply due to reduced photoassimilation alters the allocation of recently assimilated C in plant and soil pools under legume and non-legume species. A non-legume (Lolium perenne) and a legume (Medicago sativa) were labelled with 15N before the plants were clipped or shaded, and labelled twice with 13CO2 thereafter. Ten days after clipping and shading, the 15N and 13C in shoots, roots, soil, dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and carbon (DOC) and in microbial biomass, as well as the 13C in soil CO2 were analyzed. After clipping, about 50 % more 13C was allocated to regrowing shoots, resulting in a lower translocation to roots compared to the unclipped control. Clipping also reduced the total soil CO2 efflux under both species and the 13C recovery of soil CO2 under L. perenne. The 15N recovery increased in the shoots of M. sativa after clipping, because storage compounds were remobilized from the roots and/or the N uptake from the soil increased. After shading, the assimilated 13C was preferentially retained in the shoots of both species. This caused a decreased 13C recovery in the roots of M. sativa. Similarly, the total soil CO2 efflux under M. sativa decreased more than 50 % after shading. The 15N recovery in plant and soil pools showed that shading has no effect on the N uptake and N remobilization for L. perenne, but, the 15N recovery increased in the shoot of M. sativa. The experiment showed that the dominating effect on C and N allocation after clipping is the need of C and N for shoot regrowth, whereas the dominating effect after shading is the reduced substrate supply for growth and respiration. Only slight differences could be observed between L. perenne and M. sativa in the C and N distribution after clipping or shading.