Electrical impedance and capacitance method: A new approach for detection of functional aspects of arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization in maize

Role of phase angle measurement in electrical impedance spectroscopy

“…Against its disadvantages described previously, the method can be reliably applied in various fields of plant physiological, ecological and agricultural research, substituting at least partially the intrusive, complicated, as well as time-and cost-consuming techniques used commonly Cao et al, 2010;Chloupek et al, 2006;Cseresnyés et al, 2013). EIS, a general method as well, has been successfully employed for characterization and quality evaluation of various agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables, cereals, meats, raw and processed milk as well as dairy products without destroying the materials (Li et al, 2011;Soltani et al, 2011;¯ywica et al, 2012).…”

“…By fixing an electrode at the plant stem and embedding the other one in the soil and connecting them by an LCR-instrument, the measured root EI and EC are directly correlated with root mass, root length, or root surface area (Chloupek, 1972;Ozier-Lafontaine and Bajazet, 2005;Rajkai et al, 2002). EI and EC methods have been used for investigation of detached plant tissues and organs subjected to various stress conditions (cold acclimation, freeze-thaw injury, drought, nutrient deficiency, or pathogen infection) as well as for studying intact root systems of plants cultivated in soil or grown in hydroponic solution (Chloupek et al, 2006;Cseresnyés et al, 2012Cseresnyés et al, , 2013Preston et al, 2004).Dalton (1995) developed a conceptual model for interpretation of the plant root-soil system in which root surface area was regarded to be the surface area of a group of cylindrical condensers having the same average diameter as the cellular system constituting the roots. The root-soil interface has a capacitance proportional to the charges accumulated on the active membrane surfaces.…”

Simultaneous monitoring of electrical capacitance and water uptake activity of plant root system

“…Various effects provoked by the infection of F. mosseae or other AMF species in different host plants are widely documented in literature: studies reported on altered root architecture, increased photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal and root conductance, as well as enhanced total plant growth and water and nutrient uptake caused by the endomycorrhizal symbiosis (Augé, 2001). Significantly positive effect of AMF on root EC values, as a consequence of the increased root-soil interface, was formerly shown in maize cultivars in pot experiments (Cseresnyés et al, 2013b). The AMF-induced relative increment not only in total plant biomass but also in root EC proved to be higher in bean than in cucumber (75 and 15%, respectively, for the last EC measurement), in relation to the higher degree of mycorrhizal dependency generally observed in legumes (Muleta, 2010).…”

“…As root conductivity and permeability are reliable indicators for water uptake activity and absorptive root surface area (Aston and Lawlor, 1979;Aubrecht et al, 2006), we hypothesised that phenological changes and differences in root water uptake (measured indirectly through the transpiration water loss) could be monitored by EC measurement carried out repeatedly during plant ontogeny. Since arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) colonization is known to alter root morphology, conductivity and water uptake capacity, and thus subsequently electrical root properties (Augé, 2001;Cseresnyés et al, 2013b), AMF-infected and non-AMF plants were also used for the experiments.…”

Effect of Rhizobium and AM fungi inoculation on soybean

“…Biomass production (shoot and root dry weights), leaf area (LA), chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) (Solti et al, 2011) and electrical capacitance (EC) as indicators of root system activity were measured in early developmental stages (Cseresnyés et al 2013;Takács et al 2014). Root colonization of AMF (Trouvelot et al 1986), nodulating parameters and acetylene-reduction (Hardy et al 1968) were tested to estimate the functionality of symbiotic partners.…”