Abstract
The rhizosphere, the fraction of soil altered by plant roots, is a dynamic domain that rapidly changes during plant growth. Traditional approaches to quantify root growth patterns are very limited in estimating this transient extent of the rhizosphere. In this paper we advocate the analysis of root growth patterns from the soil perspective. This change of perspective addresses more directly how certain root system architectures facilitate the exploration of soil. For the first time, we propose a parsimonious root distance model with only four parameters which is able to describe root growth patterns throughout all stages in the first three weeks of growth of Vicia faba measured with X-ray computed tomography. From these models, which are fitted to the frequency distribution of root distances in soil, it is possible to estimate the rhizosphere volume, i.e. the volume fraction of soil explored by roots, and adapt it to specific interaction distances for water uptake, rhizodeposition, etc. Through 3D time-lapse imaging and image registration it is possible to estimate root age dependent rhizosphere volumes, i.e. volumes specific for certain root age classes. These root distance models are a useful abstraction of complex root growth patterns that provide complementary information on root system architecture unaddressed by traditional root system analysis, which is helpful to constrain dynamic root growth models to achieve more realistic results.
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Claims 4
Claim · model-written summary
A root distance model with only four parameters described root growth patterns throughout the first three weeks of Vicia faba growth measured with X-ray computed tomography.
- Taxon
- Vicia faba
Vicia fabae1 - Outcome
- describe root growth patternse1
- Value
- four parameterse1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“we propose a parsimonious root distance model with only four parameters which is able to describe root growth patterns throughout all stages in the first three weeks of growth of Vicia faba”
Claim · model-written summary
The models fitted to the frequency distribution of root distances in soil allow estimation of the rhizosphere volume, the volume fraction of soil explored by roots.
Verbatim
e1“it is possible to estimate the rhizosphere volume, i.e. the volume fraction of soil explored by roots”
Claim · model-written summary
Through 3D time-lapse imaging and image registration, root age dependent rhizosphere volumes specific to root age classes can be estimated.
Verbatim
e1“Through 3D time-lapse imaging and image registration it is possible to estimate root age dependent rhizosphere volumes, i.e. volumes specific for certain root age classes”
Claim · model-written summary
Root distance models provide complementary information on root system architecture that traditional root system analysis does not address.
Verbatim
e1“provide complementary information on root system architecture unaddressed by traditional root system analysis”