Sains Malaysiana 46(8)(2017): 1241–1248

http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2017-4608-09

 

Effects of Biotic and Abiotic Environmental Stimuli on the Morphology and Biomass Allocation of Mimosa pigra L.

(Kesan Rangsangan Persekitaran Biotik dan Abiotik ke atas Morfologi dan Pengagihan Biojisim Mimosa pigra L.)

 

NUR-ZHAFARINA A.* & ASYRAF M.

 

School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

 

Received: 2 February 2016/Accepted: 3 February 2017

 

ABSTRACT

The main focus of this study was to examine the morphology of Mimosa pigra, an invasive weed in response to artificial biotic and abiotic stressors. Seedlings of M. pigra were subjected to stressors such as seed sowing density, leaf defoliation and water regime. Comparatively, morphological performance related to different sowing practices differed significantly (p<0.05), as seedlings that grew from high density populations had lean and outstanding apical growth. A comparison between the four different levels of defoliation on the morphological changes revealed that the increase in leaf defoliation significantly decreased the plant morphological traits (i.e. height, stem diameter and flower bud productivity) and biomass allocation. Relatively low growth performance was found in plants subjected to 100% defoliation, with markedly lower flower bud productivity in comparison with 0%, 25% and 50% (no flower buds compared to 27, 13 and 6 flower buds, respectively). For water stress treatment, M. pigra showed no significant difference (p>0.05) in morphological performance under different levels of water regime. However, seedlings that received low water (LW) treatment showed better growth performance than seedlings that received high water (HW) treatment, which had the lowest morphological traits and biomass allocation.

 

Keywords: Abiotic; biotic; environmental stressor; Mimosa pigra; morphological traits

 

ABSTRAK

Fokus utama penyelidikan ini adalah mengkaji tindak balas Mimosa pigra terhadap tekanan biotik dan abiotik tiruan. Anak benih M. pigra telah dikenakan tekanan kepadatan penyemaian benih, pemotongan daun dan rejim air. Secara perbandingan, prestasi morfologi bagi kesemua kepadatan yang berlainan menunjukkan perbezaan yang ketara (p<0.05) disebabkan anak benih yang tumbuh daripada kepadatan penyemaian benih tinggi mempunyai pertumbuhan atas yang kurus dan tinggi berbanding dengan anak benih daripada kepadatan yang lain. Perbandingan antara empat tahap pemotongan daun yang berbeza terhadap perubahan morfologi M. pigra menunjukkan bahawa peningkatan pemotongan daun secara ketara mengurangkan ciri morfologi (tinggi, diameter batang dan penghasilan kudup bunga) dan pengagihan biojisim. Prestasi pertumbuhan relatif yang rendah telah ditunjukkan oleh pokok yang dikenakan 100% pemotongan dengan penghasilan kudup bunga yang sangat rendah berbanding dengan 0%, 25% dan 50% pemotongan (tiada kudup bunga berbanding 27, 13 dan 6 kudup bunga). Bagi perlakuan tekanan air, tiada perbezaan morfologi yang ketara (p>0.05) ditunjukkan oleh M. pigra yang telah dikenakan dengan pelbagai tahap tekanan air yang berbeza. Walau bagaimanapun, anak benih yang telah menerima perlakuan air rendah (LW) menunjukkan prestasi pertumbuhan yang lebih baik berbanding anak benih yang menerima perlakuan air tinggi (HW) kerana mempunyai ciri morfologi dan pengagihan biojisim terendah.

 

Kata kunci: Abiotik; biotik; Mimosa pigra; sifat morfologi; tekanan persekitaran

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*Corresponding author; email: nurzhafarina@ymail.com