Suppression of reproductive characteristics of the invasive plant Mikania micrantha by sweet potato competition

BMC Ecology

Table 3 Flowering characteristics of Mikania micrantha growing as a monoculture or under mixed culture conditions

Variables	Ratios (sweet potato: M. micrantha)
Variables	3:1	2:1	1:1	1:2	1:3	0:4
Total biomass (g)	25.16 ± 1.10f	35.88 ± 0.96e	54.80 ± 0.80d	82.21 ± 1.36c	104.41 ± 2.62b	301.61 ± 5.19a
Flower number	429.9 ± 10.3f	1168.3 ± 82.7e	2486.2 ± 62.9d	3508.8 ± 53.8c	4705.9 ± 106.5b	10,587.7 ± 239.3a
Inflorescence number	108.3 ± 3.7f	289.8 ± 14.1e	613.9 ± 12.1d	868.8 ± 16.1c	1179.4 ± 22.5b	2647.8 ± 55.3a
Flower biomass (g)	0.63 ± 0.03e	1.55 ± 0.04e	3.86 ± 0.06d	7.32 ± 0.06c	11.39 ± 0.29b	40.99 ± 1.01a
Inflorescence biomass (g)	1.24 ± 0.04e	2.28 ± 0.07e	6.86 ± 0.09d	11.21 ± 0.13c	14.95 ± 0.27b	54.66 ± 1.14a
Reproductive allocation (g·g⁻¹)	0.049 ± 0.004f	0.064 ± 0.002e	0.125 ± 0.002d	0.136 ± 0.001c	0.143 ± 0.002b	0.181 ± 0.002a
Reproductive investment (g·g⁻¹)	0.025 ± 0.002f	0.043 ± 0.001e	0.071 ± 0.001d	0.089 ± 0.002c	0.109 ± 0.001b	0.136 ± 0.002a
Reproductive index (g·g⁻¹)	0.512 ± 0.012d	0.678 ± 0.005b	0.563 ± 0.003c	0.653 ± 0.010b	0.762 ± 0.012a	0.750 ± 0.018a
Reproductive ratio (flower·mg⁻¹)	3.970 ± 0.081a	4.028 ± 0.089a	4.049 ± 0.025a	4.039 ± 0.025a	3.990 ± 0.015a	3.999 ± 0.041a
Reproductive efficiency index (flower·mg⁻¹)	0.017 ± 0.001d	0.033 ± 0.002c	0.045 ± 0.001a	0.043 ± 0.000b	0.045 ± 0.001ab	0.035 ± 0.000c

Data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation. The different letters within same row signify significant differences at P < 0.05

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