An Optimized Rhizobox Protocol to Visualize Root Growth and Responsiveness to Localized Nutrients

Schmidt, Jennifer E.; Lowry, Carolyn J.; Gaudin, Amélie C. M.

doi:10.3791/58674

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…No significant effects of era of release were observed on root traits including root biomass, R:S ratio, TRL, SRL and the proportion of fine roots ( Fig. 2 ; Schmidt et al 2018 ). Agricultural intensification has not decreased root morphological plasticity, as shown by strong proliferation of roots in the organic N patch despite a slight trend towards decreased responsiveness in newer genotypes ( P > 0.05; Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Microorganisms can release extracellular enzymes in response to nutrient limitation ( Allison and Vitousek 2005 ) and microbial N transformations has been shown to increase in a root-free localized N patch as compared to non-N-enriched soil ( Wang et al 2010 ). N availability was likely equivalent across rhizoboxes for the duration of the experiment, as N content of the treatment patch was standardized at start of the experiment, root growth rates did not vary among genotypes ( Schmidt et al 2018 ) and total uptake from the patch was equal at the end of the experiment ( Fig. 5 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soil was mixed 1:1 (v/v) with sand (The QUIKCRETE Companies, Columbus, OH, USA). A detailed description of rhizobox preparation with written and video protocols can be found in Schmidt et al (2018) . Briefly, rhizoboxes were constructed out of two panes of clear acrylic (61 cm tall × 40.5 cm wide) separated by 0.25 cm thick spacers [see Supporting Information—Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Has agricultural intensification impacted maize root traits and rhizosphere interactions related to organic N acquisition?

et al. 2020

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Abstract Plant–microbe interactions in the rhizosphere influence rates of organic matter mineralization and nutrient cycling that are critical to sustainable agricultural productivity. Agricultural intensification, particularly the introduction of synthetic fertilizer in the USA, altered the abundance and dominant forms of nitrogen (N), a critical plant nutrient, potentially imposing selection pressure on plant traits and plant–microbe interactions regulating N cycling and acquisition. We hypothesized that maize adaptation to synthetic N fertilization altered root functional traits and rhizosphere microbial nutrient cycling, reducing maize ability to acquire N from organic sources. Six maize genotypes released pre-fertilizer (1936, 1939, 1942) or post-fertilizer (1984, 1994, 2015) were grown in rhizoboxes containing patches of 15N-labelled clover/vetch residue. Multivariate approaches did not identify architectural traits that strongly and consistently predicted rhizosphere processes, though metrics of root morphological plasticity were linked to carbon- and N-cycling enzyme activities. Root traits, potential activities of extracellular enzymes (BG, LAP, NAG, urease), abundances of N-cycling genes (amoA, narG, nirK, nirS, nosZ) and uptake of organic N did not differ between eras of release despite substantial variation among genotypes and replicates. Thus, agricultural intensification does not appear to have impaired N cycling and acquisition from organic sources by modern maize and its rhizobiome. Improved mechanistic understanding of rhizosphere processes and their response to selective pressures will contribute greatly to rhizosphere engineering for sustainable agriculture.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Has agricultural intensification impacted maize root traits and rhizosphere interactions related to organic N acquisition?

et al. 2020

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“…This trend can be expected to continue because many processes hidden underground are still unknown. Moreover, many recent studies deal with how to construct rhizoboxes more cheaply and efficiently (Hylander, 2002;Schmidt et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rhizoboxes can vary greatly in shape and size-from a petri dish (Gross et al, 1992) through a half-cylinder (Falik et al, 2005) to flat rectangular pots (Marschner and Römheld, 1983;Schmidt et al, 2018;Mašková and Weiser, 2019). No matter the shape, during cultivation, rhizoboxes are inclined so that the root system is forced to grow along the flat front transparent wall.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Rhizoboxes on Plant Growth and Root: Shoot Biomass Partitioning

Mašková

Klimeš

2020

Front. Plant Sci.

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Various types of flat rhizoboxes aid in root visualization and tracking in experiments where the focus is upon root system growth and development. While size of the pot is known to affect experiments, nothing is known about the impact of rhizoboxes-not only their volume, but also their shape might affect root and shoot growth. Therefore, we investigated how rhizoboxes change plant biomass and root:shoot biomass partitioning. We compared biomass and root:shoot ratio of plants growing in the pots with different geometry-usual three-dimensional, cuboid plant pots and flat twodimensional rhizoboxes about the same volume. We used two different nutritional treatments (deionized water and additional nutrients) for investigating whether the nutrient availability in the substrate changed the impact of rhizoboxes on plant growth. We used 15 species for the generalizability of our results across the phylogenetic tree. Proportional investment of plants into roots was similar in usual pots and in rhizoboxes. This pattern was stable across nutrition treatments and across species. Further, we found no differences in total biomass of plants between pot type within nutrient treatments. With added nutrients, the plants had a higher biomass and lower root:shoot ratio compared to treatments without nutrient addition. Thus, species can be safely compared when grown in the rhizoboxes; rhizoboxes did not affect root system growth comparisons among species and nutrient levels. Also, they did not affect plant growth in terms of total biomass.

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Energy crop-based rhizoremediation and lignocellulosic biomass production as sustainable bioeconomy-driven solution for biofuel generation and waste mitigation

Das,

Maheshwari,

Pandey

2024

Progress in Energy and Combustion Science

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An Optimized Rhizobox Protocol to Visualize Root Growth and Responsiveness to Localized Nutrients

Cited by 13 publications

References 11 publications

Has agricultural intensification impacted maize root traits and rhizosphere interactions related to organic N acquisition?

Has agricultural intensification impacted maize root traits and rhizosphere interactions related to organic N acquisition?

The Effect of Rhizoboxes on Plant Growth and Root: Shoot Biomass Partitioning

Energy crop-based rhizoremediation and lignocellulosic biomass production as sustainable bioeconomy-driven solution for biofuel generation and waste mitigation

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