Plant responses and rhizosphere soil characteristics of sea-buckthorn from different sexual combinations in an abandoned lead-zincLead-Zinc mine

Juan Chen^1*Tingjiang Gan²Zhenxiong Zeng²Wenhao Pei²Qi Jia²Yunxiao He^2*

• ¹Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, China
• ²mianyang teacher's college, Mianyang, China

1) Background: Nowadays, the restoration of abandoned mines has gained more attention due to its significance in vegetation recovery and ecological security. Although some studies have indicated the sexual dimorphism of dioecious plants in response to the environmental adaptability, Seasea-buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.), a diecious species of widely used in afforestation and soil conservation, has not been explored their sexual interaction effect has not been studied the effects of sexual interactions on degraded ecosystem restoration; (2) Methods: In the situ experiment, the physiological responses and rhizosphere soil changes of sea-buckthorn seedlings from different sexual combinations were investigated in an abandoned lead-zincLead-Zinc mine; (3) Results: The two sexes from intra-and inter-sexual combination competitions showed differences in chlorophyll content, antioxidant activities, carbohydrates, MDA, proline, soluble sugar, starch, nutriment elements and zinc content in plants, and. Moreover, soil total organic carbon, nutrient elements and soil enzyme activities in rhizosphere soils. in rhizosphere of two sexes showed different response properties in the abandoned mining plots. In the intersexual competition, tThe males from the intersex combination had stronger antioxidant capacity and more osmoregulatory substances in plants, and higher content of soil total nitrogen contents, nitrate nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen and as well as thesignificantly higher activities of protease, neutral phosphatase and urease, with the increases of 139%, and 56%, respectively. indicating more plentiful soil nitrogen and better bioavailability of decomposing protein and transforming organophosphorus; In the intra-sex combination, compared with male plants, female plants showed higher contents of total N, Zn, soluble sugar and starch in the roots increased by 30.3%, 75%, 41.5% and 93.7% respectively, as well as higher soil available phosphate and potassium. (4) Conclusions: Sexual combinations significantly affected plant responses and soil properties of H. rhamnoides in the abandoned mine, male plants showed better adaptability than female plants in inter-sex combination, while females showed better rhizosphere responses than male plants in same-sex combination, which suggests that sexual interactions of dioecious species should be considered in the restoration of degraded ecosystem.