A - Papers appearing in refereed journals
Rabbi, S. M. F., Tighe, M. K., Flavel, R. J., Kaiser, B. N., Guppy, C. N., Zhang, X. and Young, I. M. 2018. Plant roots redesign the rhizosphere to alter the three-dimensional physical architecture and water dynamics . New Phytologist. 219 (2), pp. 542-550. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15213
Authors | Rabbi, S. M. F., Tighe, M. K., Flavel, R. J., Kaiser, B. N., Guppy, C. N., Zhang, X. and Young, I. M. |
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Abstract | The mechanisms controlling the genesis of rhizosheaths are not well understood, despite their importance in controlling the flux of nutrients and water from soil to root. Here, we examine the development of rhizosheaths from drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive chickpea varieties; focusing on the three-dimensional characterization of the pore volume (> 16 mu m voxel spatial resolution) obtained from X-ray microtomography, along with the characterization of mucilage and root hairs, and water sorption. We observe that drought-tolerant plants generate a larger diameter root, and a greater and more porous mass of rhizosheath, which also has a significantly increased water sorptivity, as compared with bulk soil. Using lattice Boltzmann simulations of soil permeability, we find that the root activity of both cultivars creates an anisotropic structure in the rhizosphere, in that its ability to conduct water in the radial direction is significantly higher than in the axial direction, especially in the drought-tolerant cultivar. We suggest that significant differences in rhizosheath architectures are sourced not only by changes in structure of the volumes, but also from root mucilage, and further suggest that breeding for rhizosheath architectures and function may be a potential future avenue for better designing crops in a changing environment. |
Keywords | chickpea; microtomography; mucilage; rhizosheath; rhizosphere; root hairs; soil structure; water uptake |
Year of Publication | 2018 |
Journal | New Phytologist |
Journal citation | 219 (2), pp. 542-550 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15213 |
Open access | Published as non-open access |
Funder | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council |
Funder project or code | S2N - Soil to Nutrition - Work package 1 (WP1) - Optimising nutrient flows and pools in the soil-plant-biota system |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 18 May 2018 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 01 Apr 2018 |
Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
Wiley | |
Copyright license | Publisher copyright |
ISSN | 0028-646X |
Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/84858/plant-roots-redesign-the-rhizosphere-to-alter-the-three-dimensional-physical-architecture-and-water-dynamics
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