Soil carbon dioxide venting through rice roots.

ABSTRACT: The growth of rice in submerged soils depends on its ability to form continuous gas channels-aerenchyma-through which oxygen (O₂ ) diffuses from the shoots to aerate the roots. Less well understood is the extent to which aerenchyma permits venting of respiratory carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) in the opposite direction. Large, potentially toxic concentrations of dissolved CO₂ develop in submerged rice soils. We show using X-ray computed tomography and image-based mathematical modelling that CO₂ venting through rice roots is far greater than thought hitherto. We found rates of venting equivalent to a third of the daily CO₂ fixation in photosynthesis. Without this venting through the roots, the concentrations of CO₂ and associated bicar

SUBMITTER: Kirk GJD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6972674 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature