Aims

Mowing is a common management practice in grassland ecosystems. However, how mowing affects fine root dynamics remains poorly explored.

Methods

A field experiment was conducted to study how mowing influences root dynamics in artificial and natural grasslands for three consecutive years with root-window method.

Results

Root production among the treatments varied from 312 to 681 m m⁻² each year and fine root turnover varied between 1.58 and 3.41 times per year. Fine root production, root mortality and root standing crop exhibited clear seasonal patterns in both the natural and artificial grasslands, and these were mainly driven by precipitation and temperature. Root production and root turnover responded differently to mowing in different types of grassland. In the artificially restored grassland, mowing significantly increased root production and root turnover (15.01% and 13.06%, respectively) and decreased the root lifespan by 14.60%. In contrast, none these effects were significant in the naturally restored grassland. The mowing-induced increase in root production and root turnover in the artificially restored grassland was mainly due to an enhancement in aboveground biomass and soil moisture. However, the lack of an effect on these parameters from mowing in the naturally restored grassland may be due to the higher species diversity.

Conclusions

Our findings demonstrate that mowing might accelerate root turnover and improve belowground productivity in the artificially restored grassland, highlighting that suitable mowing is an efficient way to manage artificial grasslands from the perspective of the dynamics of root system.

中文翻译：

---

在人工修复的松嫩草原中，割草可增加细根产量和根周转率

宗旨

割草是草原生态系统中常见的管理实践。然而，割草如何影响细根动态的研究仍然很少。

方法

通过田间试验，连续三年用根窗法研究割草对人工草地和天然草地根系动态的影响。

结果

处理之间的根产量从 312 到 681 m m ^{-2 不等}每年，细根周转率在 1.58 到 3.41 次之间。天然草地和人工草地的细根产量、根死亡率和生根作物均表现出明显的季节性模式，这些主要受降水和温度驱动。在不同类型的草地上，根系生产和根系周转对割草的反应不同。在人工恢复的草地上，割草显着增加了根系产量和根系周转率（分别为 15.01% 和 13.06%），并使根系寿命缩短了 14.60%。相比之下，这些影响在自然恢复的草地中并不显着。在人工恢复的草地中，割草引起的根系产量和根系周转增加主要是由于地上生物量和土壤水分的增加。然而，

结论

我们的研究结果表明，割草可能会加速人工恢复草地的根系周转并提高地下生产力，强调从根系动态的角度来看，适当的割草是管理人工草地的有效方法。