Response of White Clover to Soil Phosphate Levels at Different Temperatures and Carbon Dioxide Concentrations

Nutrient availability is generally managed to remove limitations when the effects of elevated temperature or CO2 concentrations on plants are investigated. Relating the resulls of such experiments to field situations where nutrients are frequently in short supply is difficult. Phosphorous response curves were obtained for white clover (Trifolium repens L,) seedlings grown at temperatures of 18-13 or 28-23°C, nod 350 or 700 ppm CO2. At low P, response to other variables was non-significant and at 18-13° there was no response to increased CO2, Increasing temperature to 28-23° resulted in increased gcowth, apparently due to increased P availability, and at 700 ppm CO2 further increases occurred which may have been due lo increased root growth. The effects of CO2 concentration or plant morphology are also discussed.