Root length densities of UK wheat and oilseed rape crops with implications for water capture and yield

White, C. A.; Sylvester‐Bradley, R.; Berry, Peter

doi:10.1093/jxb/erv077

Cited by 77 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Furthermore, the maximal root length densities were considerably higher in the silty soil than in the stony soil (note the difference in color scale). The root density distributions showing maximal densities at greater depths are markedly different from the root density profiles that have been observed for winter wheat using soil coring in loamy soil (Zhang et al, 2004) and in soils with seven different textures (from clay to sandy loam) (e.g., White et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2004). This might on the one hand be due to a great amount of water stored at those depths in the silty soil but probably also due to nutrient distribution in the soil profile at this site, which might have promoted root development in deeper soil layers (Thorup-Kristensen et al, 2009;Yang et al, 2003).…”

Section: Effect Of Water Treatment On Crop and Root Developmentcontrasting

confidence: 82%

“…On the other hand, some studies indicated that root length densities estimated from rhizotubes may underestimate the root densities in surface soil layers due to temperature effects (Fitter et al, 1998) or roots growing parallel to the horizontal plane not intersecting the tube surface (Meyer and Barrs, 1991). We obtained root lengths ranging from 1.5 to 7.0 km m −2 , which is within the range of the results from White et al (2015) who investigated root development of 11 winter wheat varieties in 4 different soils (from clay to sandy loam) in the UK. They found an average of 9.8 km m −2 from the samples to 1 m depth.…”

Section: Effect Of Water Treatment On Crop and Root Developmentsupporting

confidence: 81%

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Root growth, water uptake, and sap flow of winter wheat in response to different soil water conditions

Cai¹,

Vanderborght²,

Langensiepen

et al. 2018

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. How much water can be taken up by roots and how this depends on the root and water distributions in the root zone are important questions that need to be answered to describe water fluxes in the soil-plant-atmosphere system. Physically based root water uptake (RWU) models that relate RWU to transpiration, root density, and water potential distributions have been developed but used or tested far less. This study aims at evaluating the simulated RWU of winter wheat using the empirical Feddes-Jarvis (FJ) model and the physically based Couvreur (C) model for different soil water conditions and soil textures compared to sap flow measurements. Soil water content (SWC), water potential, and root development were monitored noninvasively at six soil depths in two rhizotron facilities that were constructed in two soil textures: stony vs. silty, with each of three water treatments: sheltered, rainfed, and irrigated. Soil and root parameters of the two models were derived from inverse modeling and simulated RWU was compared with sap flow measurements for validation. The different soil types and water treatments resulted in different crop biomass, root densities, and root distributions with depth. The two models simulated the lowest RWU in the sheltered plot of the stony soil where RWU was also lower than the potential RWU. In the silty soil, simulated RWU was equal to the potential uptake for all treatments. The variation of simulated RWU among the different plots agreed well with measured sap flow but the C model predicted the ratios of the transpiration fluxes in the two soil types slightly better than the FJ model. The root hydraulic parameters of the C model could be constrained by the field data but not the water stress parameters of the FJ model. This was attributed to differences in root densities between the different soils and treatments which are accounted for by the C model, whereas the FJ model only considers normalized root densities. The impact of differences in root density on RWU could be accounted for directly by the physically based RWU model but not by empirical models that use normalized root density functions.

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Section: Effect Of Water Treatment On Crop and Root Developmentcontrasting

confidence: 82%

Section: Effect Of Water Treatment On Crop and Root Developmentsupporting

confidence: 81%

Root growth, water uptake, and sap flow of winter wheat in response to different soil water conditions

Cai¹,

Vanderborght²,

Langensiepen

et al. 2018

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…S2). The shape of the drying curves reflects the general distribution of root biomass in a soil profile, with most root activity occurring in the upper 50 cm (White et al 2015). Most differences in absolute terms were small, indicating that the EMI method was able to discern relatively subtle genotypic differences in soil moisture extraction.…”

Section: Differences Between Wheat Linesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This applies to both root system architecture and function. The 'core-break' method for wheat Wasson et al 2014;White et al 2015) or the "shovelomics" approach for maize (Trachsel et al 2011) provide methods for phenotyping root density or architecture in the field, but excavations remain labour intensive and time-consuming. An alternative to excavating the root systems is to measure soil water content as a function of depth and infer root activity from those measurements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methods to estimate changes in soil water for phenotyping root activity in the field

et al. 2017

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Background and aims There is an urgent need to develop new high throughput approaches to phenotype roots in the field. Excavating roots to make direct measurements is labour intensive. An alternative to excavation is to measure soil drying profiles and to infer root activity. Methods We grew 23 lines of wheat in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In each year we estimated soil water profiles with electrical resistance tomography (ERT), electromagnetic inductance (EMI), penetrometer measurements and measurements of soil water content. We determined the relationships between the measured variable and soil water content and matric potential. Results We found that ERT and penetrometer measurements were closely related to soil matric potential and produced the best discrimination between wheat lines.We found genotypic differences in depth of water uptake in soil water profiles and in the extent of surface drying. Conclusions Penetrometer measurements can provide a reliable approach to comparing soil drying profiles by different wheat lines, and genotypic rankings are repeatable across years. EMI, which is more sensitive to soil water content than matric potential, and is less effective in drier soils than the penetrometer or ERT, nevertheless can be used to rapidly screen large populations for differences in root activity.

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A meta‐analysis of combining ability effects in wheat for agronomic traits and drought adaptation: Implications for optimizing biomass allocation

et al. 2021

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Combining ability effects for yield related traits can serve as selection criteria to pursue breeding for optimal biomass allocation in wheat (Triticum aestivum). The objective of this paper is to provide information based on a retrospective quantitative genetic analysis on combining ability studies of wheat for yield and yield‐related traits to predict potential genetic gains achievable in improving biomass allocation for drought tolerance and soil carbon storage. The study compares data on the general combining ability and specific combining ability effects of wheat for yield and related traits under optimum and drought stressed conditions from 40 studies around the world. Days to heading (DTH), plant height (PH), number of tillers per plant (TN), kernels per spike (KPS), 1,000‐kernel weight (TKW), shoot biomass (SB), and grain yield (GY) exhibited wide variation for general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability effects. Progeny performance increased by 14.30 and 4.04% for SB and GY, respectively, compared with parental values under optimum water conditions. Number of tillers and SB exhibited positive associations with GY (.45 ≤ r ≤ .85, p < .05) under both water conditions. Meta effect sizes for drought stress were negative. The highest meta‐effect sizes were calculated for DTH (−4.5) followed by SB (−2.0), whereas KPS (−1.25) had the lowest. The genetic gains for PH, SB, and other yield components showed that divergent crosses involving complementary parents could enhance biomass allocation patterns in wheat. This could be used as a basis for improving biomass allocation to roots.

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Root length densities of UK wheat and oilseed rape crops with implications for water capture and yield

Cited by 77 publications

References 59 publications

Root growth, water uptake, and sap flow of winter wheat in response to different soil water conditions

Root growth, water uptake, and sap flow of winter wheat in response to different soil water conditions

Methods to estimate changes in soil water for phenotyping root activity in the field

A meta‐analysis of combining ability effects in wheat for agronomic traits and drought adaptation: Implications for optimizing biomass allocation

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