Clonal growth characteristics of Rosa persica in response to arid environment

Abstract

Plant adaptation strategies are a key scientific topic for studying the mechanisms of vegetation community formation and restoration in arid regions. Rosa persica is an important perennial shrub that can be clonally propagated, and widely used in horticultural breeding and water and soil conservation. In this study, we revealed its horizontal root and adventitious bud characteristics through morphology and anatomy, and explored the relationship between clonal growth characteristics and environmental factors in a continental area of Xinjiang. The anatomical and morphological features confirm the root origin of ramets, and adventitious buds arise from the pericycle of horizontal roots. The horizontal roots are primarily distributed within the 0–20 cm soil layer and extended up to 230 cm in length. Rosa persica tends to reproduce asexually and expand horizontally, with the biomass allocated to clonal reproduction (63.32 g) being 2.33 times that of sexual reproduction (27.14 g). On average, it produced 9.1 adventitious buds or ramets per meter. Among 10 environmental factors, mean temperature of the coldest quarter, soil potassium, precipitation of the driest month, and annual mean precipitation had a significant effect on growth traits (P < 0.05), with a cumulative explanatory power of 43.20 %. The above results reveal the organ types, growth characteristics and relationships with environmental factors in the clonal propagation of R. persica, providing valuable insights for conservation efforts and the study of adaptive mechanisms.