Root growth dynamics inside and outside of soil biopores as affected by crop sequence determined with the profile wall method

TY - JOUR

T1 - Root growth dynamics inside and outside of soil biopores as affected by crop sequence determined with the profile wall method

AU - Han, Eusun

AU - Kautz, Timo

AU - Perkons, Ute

AU - Uteau, Daniel

AU - Peth, Stephan

AU - Huang, Ning

AU - Horn, Rainer

AU - Köpke, Ulrich

N1 - Funding Information: The experiment was financially supported by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) under the research unit DFG-FOR 1320. Special thanks shall go to Dr. Miriam Athmann for inspiring coordination of the project. The authors are indebted to technicians working at the Institute of Organic Agriculture (IOL) and Campus Klein-Altendorf, especially Henning Riebeling, Johannes Siebigteroth, and Stephan Doll. Publisher Copyright: © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

PY - 2015/10/22

Y1 - 2015/10/22

N2 - Taprooting crop species are capable of creating soil biopores (>2 mm in diameter) in the subsoil due to their large root size and deep-rooting habit. The aim of this study was to quantify root growth dynamics of wheat in the subsoil during its complete growth season as affected by crop sequence. Temporal observation on root length (km m−2) of wheat inside and outside of biopores at four growth stages (tillering, booting, anthesis, and milk) was conducted by using the profile wall method under the two crop sequence treatments involving two precrops, viz., chicory and tall fescue. Frequency of biopore presence measured on vertical profile walls depended on the choice of precrops in which chicory precrop resulted in higher frequency (2.3 %) compared with tall fescue (1.5 %). Root length of wheat measured inside biopores was significantly higher when grown after chicory (0.024 km m−2) in comparison to tall fescue (0.006 km m−2). On average, root length outside biopores after growing chicory was 45.9 % higher than tall fescue until the stage of anthesis. We conclude that at the site under study biopores as pathways for rapid root growth into deeper soil layers allow roots to re-enter and explore the subsoil. Thus, cereals cultivated in rotation with taprooted crops can draw benefit from enhanced uptake of water and nutrients from deeper soil layers during early growth stages. Model simulations with various abiotic and biotic factors will be helpful to reveal the direct evidence of biopore-root-shoot relationship in the future.

AB - Taprooting crop species are capable of creating soil biopores (>2 mm in diameter) in the subsoil due to their large root size and deep-rooting habit. The aim of this study was to quantify root growth dynamics of wheat in the subsoil during its complete growth season as affected by crop sequence. Temporal observation on root length (km m−2) of wheat inside and outside of biopores at four growth stages (tillering, booting, anthesis, and milk) was conducted by using the profile wall method under the two crop sequence treatments involving two precrops, viz., chicory and tall fescue. Frequency of biopore presence measured on vertical profile walls depended on the choice of precrops in which chicory precrop resulted in higher frequency (2.3 %) compared with tall fescue (1.5 %). Root length of wheat measured inside biopores was significantly higher when grown after chicory (0.024 km m−2) in comparison to tall fescue (0.006 km m−2). On average, root length outside biopores after growing chicory was 45.9 % higher than tall fescue until the stage of anthesis. We conclude that at the site under study biopores as pathways for rapid root growth into deeper soil layers allow roots to re-enter and explore the subsoil. Thus, cereals cultivated in rotation with taprooted crops can draw benefit from enhanced uptake of water and nutrients from deeper soil layers during early growth stages. Model simulations with various abiotic and biotic factors will be helpful to reveal the direct evidence of biopore-root-shoot relationship in the future.

KW - Fodder cropping

KW - Root length

KW - Soil biopore creation

KW - Subsoil

KW - Wheat

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84941936273&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s00374-015-1032-1

DO - 10.1007/s00374-015-1032-1

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84941936273

SN - 0178-2762

VL - 51

SP - 847

EP - 856

JO - Biology and Fertility of Soils

JF - Biology and Fertility of Soils

IS - 7

ER -