Response of honelocust (Gleditsia triacanthos L.) to soil solution aluminium

Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos L.) seedlings were grown for 72 days in soil from a BC horizon of a Spodosol altered by adding four levels of AlCl3. Saturated paste extracts from controls to the highest AlCl3 treatment contained, respectively, 85 to 831 μM Al, 834 to 163 μM Ca and 316 to 35 μM Mg and had a pH of 4.4 to 4.0 Leaf, stem, and root concentrations of Al and P increased while those of Mg, Ca, and Zn decreased with increasing levels of Al. Growth decreased as Al, Al/Ca, and Al/Mg ratios in the extract increased. Growth was negatively related to tissue concentrations of Al, P, and Zn and positively related to tissue Mg and Ca. Growth was more closely correlated to elemental concentrations in the saturated paste extracts than in the SrCl2 extracts (1 part 0.01M SrCl2: 1 part moist soil).