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Comparative study of wild and cultivated populations of Cichorium spinosum: the influence of soil and organic matter addition

Papafilippaki Androniki, Nikolaidis Nikolaos

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Summary

Cichorium spinosum L. is a wild edible leafy plant which grows at coastal and mountainous habitats of the Mediterranean region. The populations of these habitats exhibit significant phenotypic differences. We aimed to study comparatively the influence of soil type and organic matter addition on plant growth, mineral content and arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization of wild and cultivated populations of C. spinosum, under the same growing conditions. For this reason, a pot experiment with two contrasting soil types (sandy and clayey), two application rates of municipal solid waste compost (0 and 60 t ha−1) as organic matter addition and three different plant populations (coastal, mountainous and cultivated) was conducted. The studied populations retained, to a great extent, their phenotypic variation, under the same growing conditions. The cultivated population obtained the highest biomass production. Nutrient and heavy metal uptake showed a great variation between the studied populations. In general, the mountainous population had the highest N, P, Ca, Na, Mg, Cu, Zn, Fe, Cr and chlorophyll contents. The coastal population showed the lowest arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization rate. Sandy soil and municipal solid waste compost significantly affected the biomass production and plant Na, Cu and Zn uptake. The differences of the studied populations on plant growth, mineral content and mycorrhizal colonization under the same growing conditions, indicate genotypic variation among them. The phenotypical differences exhibit in their natural habitats are a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

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