High-resolution synchrotron imaging shows that root hairs influence rhizosphere soil structure formation

DOI: 10.1111/nph.14705

Authors: Nicolai Koebernick (University of Southampton) , Keith R. Daly (University of Southampton) , Samuel D. Keyes (University of Southampton) , Timothy S. George (The James Hutton Institute) , Lawrie Brown (The James Hutton Institute) , Annette Raffan (University of Aberdeen) , Laura J. Cooper (University of Southampton) , Muhammad Naveed (University of Aberdeen) , Anthony G. Bengough (University of Dundee) , Ian Sinclair (University of Southampton) , Paul D. Hallett (University of Aberdeen) , Tiina Roose (University of Southampton)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: New Phytologist , VOL 374

State: Published (Approved)
Published: July 2017
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 9659

Abstract: In this paper, we provide direct evidence of the importance of root hairs on pore structure development at the root–soil interface during the early stage of crop establishment. This was achieved by use of high-resolution (c. 5 μm) synchrotron radiation computed tomography (SRCT) to visualise both the structure of root hairs and the soil pore structure in plant–soil microcosms. Two contrasting genotypes of barley (Hordeum vulgare), with and without root hairs, were grown for 8 d in microcosms packed with sandy loam soil at 1.2 g cm−3 dry bulk density. Root hairs were visualised within air-filled pore spaces, but not in the fine-textured soil regions. We found that the genotype with root hairs significantly altered the porosity and connectivity of the detectable pore space (> 5 μm) in the rhizosphere, as compared with the no-hair mutants. Both genotypes showed decreasing pore space between 0.8 and 0.1 mm from the root surface. Interestingly the root-hair-bearing genotype had a significantly greater soil pore volume-fraction at the root–soil interface. Effects of pore structure on diffusion and permeability were estimated to be functionally insignificant under saturated conditions when simulated using image-based modelling.

Journal Keywords: Hordeum vulgare; image-based modelling; noninvasive imaging; rhizosphere; root hairs; soil structure; synchrotron

Subject Areas: Biology and Bio-materials


Instruments: I13-1-Coherence

Added On: 02/08/2017 16:12

Documents:
Koebernick_et_al-2017-New_Phytologist.pdf

Discipline Tags:

Plant science Agriculture & Fisheries Life Sciences & Biotech

Technical Tags:

Imaging Tomography