Sui Xiaolin, Xue Ruijuan, Li Airong
Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources, Department of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China.
Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Natural Medicines, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China.
Plants (Basel). 2025 Jul 31;14(15):2356. doi: 10.3390/plants14152356.
Host selectivity or preference plays a critical role in enabling parasitic plants to identify suitable hosts and influence plant community dynamics. Phosphorus (P) is known to affect the growth of root hemiparasitic plants and their interaction with single host species, but its role in shaping host selectivity across multiple hosts is unclear. In a pot experiment, we used a grass-legume co-culture design and evaluated whether the root hemiparasitic plant exhibits selective parasitism on legumes () versus grasses () and assessed the impact of soil P availability on this preference. The results showed that inhibited the growth of both host species, but the magnitude of suppression varied with P availability. Under low P conditions, preferentially parasitized the tender , causing a greater biomass reduction in the legume. In contrast, at high P levels, decreased its foraging on legumes, shifting its parasitism towards the dominant , which potentially led to stronger suppression of grass growth. Our findings demonstrate that soil P availability modulates host selectivity in , emphasizing the influence of soil nutrient conditions on parasite-host dynamics. This research provides insights into managing the impacts of parasitic plants on plant community structure through nutrient interventions.
寄主选择性或偏好性在使寄生植物识别合适寄主并影响植物群落动态方面起着关键作用。已知磷（P）会影响根半寄生植物的生长及其与单一寄主物种的相互作用，但其在塑造跨多个寄主的寄主选择性方面的作用尚不清楚。在一项盆栽实验中，我们采用草 - 豆科植物共培养设计，评估根半寄生植物是否对豆科植物（）与禾本科植物（）表现出选择性寄生，并评估土壤有效磷对这种偏好的影响。结果表明，抑制了两种寄主物种的生长，但抑制程度随磷有效性而变化。在低磷条件下，优先寄生嫩的，导致豆科植物生物量减少更多。相反，在高磷水平下，减少了对豆科植物的寄生，将其寄生转向占主导地位的，这可能导致对禾本科植物生长的更强抑制。我们的研究结果表明，土壤有效磷调节了的寄主选择性，强调了土壤养分条件对寄生 - 寄主动态的影响。这项研究为通过养分干预管理寄生植物对植物群落结构的影响提供了见解。
