A comparison between water uptake and root length density in winter wheat: effects of root density and rhizosphere properties.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

We aim to quantify the variation in root distribution in a set of 35 experimental wheat lines. We also compared the effect of variation in hydraulic properties of the rhizosphere on water uptake by roots.

Methods

We measured the root length density and soil drying in 35 wheat lines in a field experiment. A 3D numerical model was used to predict soil drying profiles with the different root length distributions and compared with measured soil drying. The model was used to test different scenarios of the hydraulic properties of the rhizosphere.

Results

We showed that wheat lines with no detectable differences in root length density can induce soil drying profiles with statistically significant differences. Our data confirmed that a root length density

SUBMITTER: Zhang XX 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7437669 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature