Resource remobilization in Quercus ilex L. resprouts

We studied the source of the nitrogen used for the growth and resprouting of holm-oak (Quercus ilex L.), and the contribution of nitrogen and carbohydrate root reserves to these processes. Three-year-old plants were grown in a greenhouse with either a sufficient or restricted nitrogen supply for one year. Half the individuals were subjected to shoot excision to provoke resprouting, and a N-15 solution was given to these plants and to controls for two months. Nitrogen, Total Non-structural Carbohydrate (TNC), Total Soluble Protein content, and N-15 and C-13 composition were determined, and histological analyses of woody tissue were performed. Our results show that N-deprived plants used nitrogen from root reserves to support a growth rate similar to that of non-deprived plants. However, deprived plants lost their resprouting capacity in spite of the high TNC accumulation and nitrogen resupply to the soil. After the supply of nitrogen was restored to N-deprived plants, this nutrient mainly accumulated in underground organs, which limited the above-ground growth. Resprouting plants first remobilized the nitrogen stored in roots, and thereafter took it up from the solution. The root-crown region did not behave as a specialised reserve organ in three-year-old Quercus ilex L. plants.