A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the influence of root diameter on the ability of roots of eight plant species to penetrate a compacted subsoil below a tilled layer. The soil was a fine sandy loam red-brown earth with a soil strength of about 3.0 MPa (at water content of 0.13 kg kg-l, corresponding to 0.81 plastic limit) at the base of a tilled layer. Relative root diameter (RRD), which was calculated as the ratio of the mean diameters of roots of plants grown in compacted soil to the mean diameters of those from uncompacted soil, was used to compare the sensitivity of roots to thicken under mechanical stress.Diameters of root tips of plants grown in soil with a compacted layer were consistently larger than those from uncompacted soil. Tap-rooted species generally had bigger diameters and RRDs than fibrous-rooted species. A higher proportion of thicker roots penetrated the strong layer at the interface than thinner roots. There were differences between plant species in the extent to which root diameter increased in response to the compaction. The roots which had larger RRD also tended to have higher penetration percentage.The results suggest that the size of a root has a significant influence on its ability to penetrate strong soil layers. It is suggested that this could be related to the effects which root diameter may have on root growth pressure and on the mode of soil deformation during penetration.

Summary Roots grow thicker in compacted soil, even though it requires greater force for a large object to penetrate soil than it does for a small one. We examined the advantage of thickening in terms of the stresses around a root penetrating with constant shape, rather than the stresses around an expanding cylinder or sphere, as has been studied previously. We combined experiments and simulations of the stresses around roots growing in compacted soils. We measured the diameter of pea roots growing in sandy loam and clay loam at four different densities, and the critical‐state properties of the soils. At a penetration resistance of about 1 MPa the diameter of the roots in the sandy loam was about 40% greater than that at 0.7 MPa, and at 2 MPa it was about 60% greater. In the clay loam, there was less thickening – about 10% greater at 1 MPa and about 20% greater at 1.5 MPa. The maximum axial stresses were predicted using a critical‐state finite‐element model to be at the very tip of the root cap. When there was friction between the root and the soil, shear stresses were predicted with smaller values at the tip than just behind the tip. When the interface between the soil and the root was assumed to be frictionless, there were by definition no shear stresses. In the frictionless case the advantage of root thickening on relieving peak stress at the root tip was diminished. The axial and shear stresses were predicted to be smaller in the clay loam than in the sandy loam and may explain why the roots did not thicken in this soil although its resistance to penetration was similar. Our results suggest that the local values of axial and shear stresses experienced by the root near its tip may be as important in constraining root growth as the total penetration resistance.

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Yield surfaces and the critical-state condition have been measured on unsaturated agricultural soils using a standard uniaxial compression test and a constant-volume direct shear test. The yield surfaces and critical-state line are all readily described in terms of applied or total stresses, and such an approach offers practical advantages over approaches based on effective stresses. Four soils were tested, these being a silt, a tilth with aggregates mostly from 5-15 mm, a cracking clay and a red-brown earth.Each soil was tested at a single constant moisture content in all tests, although the moisture content differed from soil to soil. The range of saturation covered by the four soils was approximately 2&98%. All the soils displayed yield and deformation behaviour qualitatively consistent with the critical-state concept. All approach a condition of shear with no volume change (the critical state) under continuing shear. All show collapse with shear in states looser than critical, and expansion with shear in states denser than critical. The silt, being a non-cohesive soil, cannot support shear stresses much above the criticalstate line, whereas the other three soils can support much higher shear stresses in the overconsolidated condition. The yield surfaces of the silt and the tilth, which were tested at low saturation, are similar in shape with increasing stress level. However, the other two soils, tested when near saturation, display yield surfaces that are not constant in shape with increasing stress level. While the critical-state concept is applicable both qualitatively and quantitatively, unsaturated soils may be considered to have properties that differ in detail from those of saturated soils.