Nitrogen addition increases sexual reproduction and improves seedling growth in the perennial rhizomatous grass Leymus chinensis

Table 2 Flowering plant density and seed number per plant, thousand seed weight, and seed density in control plots and nitrogen addition plots. The data are expressed as means ±1 SE, n = 6 per treatment

	2007		2008		2009
	Control	Nitrogen	Control	Nitrogen	Control	Nitrogen
Flowering plant density (no.m²)	82.2bc ± 3.5	104.2a† ± 5.2	79.7bc ± 2.8	104.0a ± 3.7	72.5c ± 3.6	93.8ab ± 3.9
Seed no. per plant	14.0ab ± 1.2	22.1a ± 2.5	13.5ab ± 3.5	18.1ab ± 8.1	13.1b ± 1.5	16.4ab ± 5.2
Thousand seeds weight (g)	2.1c ± 0.1	2.3ab ± 0.1	2.2bc ± 0.1	2.5a ± 0.1	2.2bc ± 0.1	2.4ab ± 0.1
Seed no. per (m²)	1151.0bc ± 42.8	2300.5a ± 299.6	1089.3c ± 68.3	1897.8ab ± 86.5	960.3c ± 34.7	1522.3bc ± 119.0

† For each variable, values with different letters indicate the significant differences between control and nitrogen addition treatment among three experimental years (P < 0.05, from post hoc comparison). For ANOVA results, see Table 1

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