Imaging of plant current pathways for non-invasive root Phenotyping using a newly developed electrical current source density approach

Peruzzo, Luca; Chou, Chunwei; Wu, Yuxin; Schmutz, M.; Mary, Benjamin; Wagner, Florian M.; Petrov, P. V.; Newman, Gregory A.; Blancaflor, Elison B.; Liu, Xiuwei; Ma, Xuefeng; Hubbard, Susan S.

doi:10.1007/s11104-020-04529-w

Cited by 30 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 57 publications

(68 reference statements)

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“…For partial irrigation, roots are likely more conductive than the surrounding soil, and the current flows preferentially through the roots. In the case of full irrigation, the surrounding soil is more conductive than the root, and the current is expected to leave the root system near the stem-soil interface, as also suggested by Urban, Bequet, and Mainiero (2011) and Peruzzo et al (2020). Thus, the success of the MALM method depends on the contrast between the electrical properties of the root and that of the soil and on the contact resistance at the interface between the two.…”

Section: Malm Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Measurement setups involving stem injection ( Figure 2) of current as a means of characterizing root systems have com-monly been used in a range of studies reviewed above. Although they adopted different methods such as ERM (Cao et al, 2010), ECM (Dietrich et al, 2012;Kendall, Pederson, & Hill, 1982), MALM (Mary et al, 2019;Peruzzo et al, 2020), EIM (Čermák et al 2013;Urban et al, 2011), and EIS (Repo et al, 2005;Repo et al, 2012), it is interesting to note that all studies share a common conclusion. Proximal leakage of current at the stem-soil and solution interface appears as a common challenge in all measurement setups involving the stemroot-soil continuum.…”

Section: Joint Discussion Of Stem Injection Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensing the electrical properties of roots: A review

Ehosioke

Nguyen

Rao

et al. 2020

Vadose Zone Journal

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Thorough knowledge of root system functioning is essential to understand the feedback loops between plants, soil, and climate. In situ characterization of root systems is challenging due to the inaccessibility of roots and the complexity of root zone processes. Electrical methods have been proposed to overcome these difficulties. Electrical conduction and polarization occur in and around roots, but the mechanisms are not yet fully understood. We review the potential and limitations of low‐frequency electrical techniques for root zone investigation, discuss the mechanisms behind electrical conduction and polarization in the soil–root continuum, and address knowledge gaps. A range of electrical methods for root investigation is available. Reported methods using current injection in the plant stem to assess the extension of the root system lack robustness. Multi‐electrode measurements are increasingly used to quantify root zone processes through soil moisture changes. They often neglect the influence of root biomass on the electrical signal, probably because it is yet to be well understood. Recent research highlights the potential of frequency‐dependent impedance measurements. These methods target both surface and volumetric properties by activating and quantifying polarization mechanisms occurring at the root segment and cell scale at specific frequencies. The spectroscopic approach opens up a range of applications. Nevertheless, understanding electrical signatures at the field scale requires significant understanding of small‐scale polarization and conduction mechanisms. Improved mechanistic soil–root electrical models, validated with small‐scale electrical measurements on root systems, are necessary to make further progress in ramping up the precision and accuracy of multi‐electrode tomographic techniques for root zone investigation.

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Section: Malm Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Joint Discussion Of Stem Injection Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensing the electrical properties of roots: A review

Ehosioke

Nguyen

Rao

et al. 2020

Vadose Zone Journal

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“…For example, fiber‐optic distributed sensors can now autonomously measure temperature and strain with very high spatiotemporal resolution in terrestrial and aquatic systems (Ajo‐Franklin et al, 2017; Joe, Yun, Jo, Jun, & Min, 2018; Slater et al, 2010), and fiber‐based approaches for sensing chemical and biological properties are in development (Ding et al, 2015; Lu, Thomas, & Hellevang, 2019). New sensing strategies are being tested to noninvasively monitor active plant‐root functions in situ (Benjamin et al, 2020; Peruzzo et al, 2020) and to monitor nutrient fluxes (MacDonald, Levison, & Parker, 2017). Autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with various instruments can now sense previously difficult‐to‐reach environments in high‐resolution.…”

Section: Emerging Technologies Poised To Advance Watershed Hydrobiogementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The availability of these data and tools is enabling a new paradigm wherein data-driven methods are being used to probe hydrobiogeochemical scaling, similarity and function, as well as to generate and test new hypotheses (Peters-Lidard et al, 2017). Classical methods, such as statistical time-series analyses and concentrationdischarge relationships, are being applied to large, regional data products to determine streamflow and water quality trends across catchments with different characteristics (Godsey, Hartmann, & Kirchner, 2019;Murphy & Sprague, 2019).…”

Section: Watershed Data Cyberinfrastructure and Informaticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging technologies and radical collaboration to advance predictive understanding of watershed hydrobiogeochemistry

Hubbard

Varadharajan

et al. 2020

Hydrological Processes

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Increasing population and resource-intensive lifestyles are driving enhanced demands for clean water, food, and energy. In parallel, landuse change, climate change, and perturbations-including drought, floods, fires, and early snowmelt-are significantly reshaping interactions within watersheds throughout the world. While watersheds are the Earth's key functional unit for assessing and managing water resources, hydrological processes in watersheds also mediate biogeochemical interactions that support terrestrial life on Earth (Kaushal, Gold, Bernal, & Tank, 2018; National Research Council, 2012). Although society is dependent upon clean water availability, tractable prediction of watershed hydrobiogeochemical behavior, including watershed response to perturbations, remains a challenge. Central to the challenge are complex, multiscale interactions between plants, microorganisms, organic matter, minerals, dissolved constituents, and migrating fluids, which occur within and across bedrock-to-canopy compartments and along extensive lateral gradients of a watershed. Several recent community reports have synthesized formidable challenges associated with watershed science and technology (AGU, 2018;Blöschl et al., 2019).Here, we discuss emerging technologies and collaboration modes that are critical for developing generalizable insights about and predictive understanding of complex watershed hydrobiogeochemical behavior, which are important for underpinning optimized natural resource management.Recent developments in field observatories and open-science principles provide foundational pillars for advancing predictive understanding of watershed hydrobiogeochemistry using emerging technologies. Field observatories have fostered crossdisciplinary collaboration and provided platforms for quantifying hydrological, biological, geological, geochemical, and atmospheric processes and their couplings (Bogena, White, Bour, Li, & Jensen, 2018). Observatory networks in the United States include the Critical Zone

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“…Conceptual models consider the roots to be imperfect cylindrical capacitors, in which the amount of electric charge stored by the polarizable membrane dielectrics depends on the root-soil interfacial area (Dalton, 1995). Even though some of the underlying biophysical principles are still unclear and there are uncertainties about the relative contribution of proximal and distal (fine) roots to the magnitude of the C R detected (Dietrich et al, 2012;Ellis et al, 2013;Cseresnyés et al, 2020;Peruzzo et al, 2020), several pot and field trials have convincingly demonstrated the efficiency of the capacitance method (Středa et al, 2020). One advantage of the technique is that, as the C R value is affected not only by the size but also by the histological properties of the roots (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prediction of wheat grain yield by measuring root electrical capacitance at anthesis

Cseresnyés¹,

Mikó²,

Kelemen³

et al. 2021

Int. Agrophys.

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A b s t r a c t. This methodological study evaluated the efficiency of predicting aboveground biomass and grain yield in fieldgrown winter wheat by measuring the saturation root electrical capacitance at anthesis. Three cultivars were grown over a threeyear period as sole crops and intercropped with winter pea at halved wheat density. The root capacitance readings were converted into saturation root electrical capacitance using the relevant soil water content, according to an empirical function. At plant scale, saturation root electrical capacitance at anthesis showed a significant (p < 0.001) linear regression with the total aboveground biomass (R 2 : 0.653-0.765) and grain yield (R 2 : 0.585-0.686) at maturity for each cultivar. At stand scale, both the mean saturation root electrical capacitance and shoot dry mass at anthesis and grain yield varied over the years, and were consistently higher for the intercrops compared to the sole crops. The relative increase in saturation root electrical capacitance due to intercropping corresponded with the changes in shoot dry mass and grain yield, especially in dry years. Saturation root electrical capacitance was significantly correlated with shoot dry mass (R 2 : 0.714-0.899) and grain yield (R 2 : 0.742-0.877) for each cultivar across all cropping systems and years. In conclusion, by mitigating the soil water content effect, the measurement of saturation root electrical capacitance at anthesis is adequate to forecast grain yield and cultivar response to a changing environment. K e y w o r d s: aboveground biomass, intercropping, nonintrusive root methods, saturation electrical capacitance, root system size

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Imaging of plant current pathways for non-invasive root Phenotyping using a newly developed electrical current source density approach

Cited by 30 publications

References 57 publications

Sensing the electrical properties of roots: A review

Sensing the electrical properties of roots: A review

Emerging technologies and radical collaboration to advance predictive understanding of watershed hydrobiogeochemistry

Prediction of wheat grain yield by measuring root electrical capacitance at anthesis

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