Effects of Fertilizers on Cultured Salt Marsh Plants, Ruppia and Chara

• Main Author: Stenquist, Scott Marshall
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@USU 1974
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/1621; http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2620&context=etd

Widgeongrass (Ruppia maritima), muskgrass (Chara Sp.), and midge larvae (family Chironomidae) were grown under controlled greenhouse conditions using a solution of Logan tap water, 3000 ppm. sodium chloride, and an algicide-fungicide inhibiter. Soil, vegetation, and invertebrates came from a spring-fed marsh in western Utah. Ammonium sulfate, treble superphosphate, and sewage sludge fertilizers were applied to the plants at 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 75, 100, and 300 pounds per acre equivalents of ammonium sulfate; 5, 25, 50, 75, 100, and 300 pounds per acre equivalents of treble superphsophate; and 5, 25, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500,700, and 1000 pounds per acre equivalents of sewage sludge. Widgeongrass plants had weights below the control at all fertilizer levels. Plant lengths at treatment levels of 10 pounds per acre equivalents ammonium sulfate and 5 pounds per acre equivalents sewage sludge were greater than the control length, but the differences were not significant. Muskgrass plants had weights which were neither significantly above or below the control weight. Muskgrass plants at the 75 pounds per acre rate of treble superphosphate had significantly greater lengths than did the control. The highest chironom.id survival rate, 12. 6 percent, occurred in the control treatm.ent. B1uegreen algae, Oscilatoria sp., was present in all fertilized treatments.