Abstract:
A potted experiment was conducted to study the growth and biomass of
Rauvolfia vomitoria plant under different light intensities (15%, 40% and 70% of full sunlight) and nitrogen levels (15 g, 30 g and 60 g per plant). The results show that the growth, individual biomass and biomass allocation are significantly influenced by light intensity and nitrogen level (
P<0.05). The plant height, ground diameter, relative growth rate of height and ground diameter (
RGRH,
RGRD) and individual biomass under 70% light intensity are higher than those under 15% and 40% light intensity, and more biomass is allocated to underground plant part. The height, ground diameter,
RGRH,
RGRD and individual biomass decrease with increasing nitrogen level under 15% and 40% light intensity. Under 70% light intensity,
R. vomitoria plant grows best and individual biomass reaches the highest value of 559.6 g at 30 g nitrogen per plant. At the same light intensity, root mass ratio (
RMR) and root to shoot ratio (
R/S) decrease with increasing nitrogen level. On the other hand, specific leaf area (
SLA) and leaf mass ratio (
LMR) are highest at 15% light intensity and 60 g nitrogen per plant. Analysis on individual biomass,
RMR, R/S and growth characteristics including height, ground diameter,
RGRH,
RGRD reveals that 70% light intensity and 30 g nitrogen per plant combination yields the optimum condition for
R. vomitoria plants.