Measuring root system architecture: Opportunities and challenges
نویسنده
چکیده
Root architectural traits are important for the selection of crops and cultivars that are most efficient in the acquisition of nutrients and water from soil. Increasingly laboratory-based methods are being used to screen large numbers of plants and to measure selected architectural traits. Our research with temperate cereals demonstrates that while such methods may allow numbers of root axes and angular spread to be determined reliably, the ranking of other traits such as length may be markedly influenced by the growing medium. For example, root length of dwarfing wheat lines grown on agar plates was increased by about 40% relative to wildtype and semi-dwarfing lines, while in a sandy loam soil under well-watered conditions it was decreased (by 24-33 %). Similarly while the ranking of particular growth traits (root number, root angular spread) of 5 barley genotypes grown in gel plates, soil sacs and small soil-filled pots was similar, those grown in gel chambers had a different order of ranking for root length to the soil-grown plants. Recent developments in x-ray microtomography have facilitated the 3D non-invasive measurement of small root systems grown in solid media allowing angular distributions to be obtained in addition to numbers and length. Developments in software and instrumentation mean that quantifying root architectural traits is becoming easier but the significant soil environment-genotype interactions mean that it is important to consider the typical soil conditions and stresses present in the environment where a crop is to be grown.
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