{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.030381944444444444, 'fraction_numerical': 0.001736111111111111, 'mean_word_length': 5.551136363636363, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Field dodder (Cuscuta campestris) does not promote nutrient transfer between parasitized host plants

Abstract Plant parasitic dodders (Cuscuta spp.) are globally distributed holoparasites that form a direct connection to host vascular tissue. Using Cuscuta campestris as a live bridge between plants, this study investigated potential nutrient movement between pairs of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum). Specifically, the study addressed two questions: 1) If two hosts are connected by dodder, does nutrient supplementation for one plant (the “donor”) lead to increased growth in an unmanipulated plant (the “receiver”)? 2) Does shading the donor lead to reduced growth in the receiver? As expected, donor plants in the nutrient addition and nutrient + shade addition treatments showed higher above- and belowground growth than control donor plants. However, the unmanipulated receiver plants showed no significant differences in growth, regardless of treatment. These results suggest that few (if any) nutrients passed through dodder from the donor to the receiver plant and that shading the donor did not impact the growth of the receiver plant.