Modelling of the Hydraulic Architecture of Root Systems: An Integrated Approach to Water Absorption—Distribution of Axial and Radial Conductances in Maize

Doussan, Claude; Vercambre, Gilles; Pagè, Loïc

doi:10.1006/anbo.1997.0541

Cited by 148 publications

(152 citation statements)

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“…Experimental studies have found that most of the water uptake by a zero order root occurs near the tip of the root [131]. This has been explained assuming a variation in root radial conductivity, since younger tissues of root epidermis are thought to have higher radial conductivity [34]. We indeed confirm the fact that there is, in addition to the local maximum in water uptake near the base, also a local maximum for water uptake at the root tip.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

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A mathematical model of plant nutrient uptake

Koebernick¹,

Fowler²,

Darrah

2001

Journal of Mathematical Biology

111

159

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This thesis deals with the mathematical modelling of nutrient uptake by plant roots. It starts with the Nye-Tinker-Barber model for nutrient uptake by a single bare cylindrical root. The model is treated using matched asymptotic expansion and an analytic formula for the rate of nutrient uptake is derived for the first time. The basic model is then extended to include root hairs and mycorrhizae, which have been found experimentally to be very important for the uptake of immobile nutrients. Again, analytic expressions for nutrient uptake are derived. The simplicity and clarity of the analytical formulae for the solution of the single root models allows the extension of these models to more realistic branched roots. These models clearly show that the "volume averaging of branching structure" technique commonly used to extend the Nye-Tinker-Barber with experiments can lead to large errors. The same models also indicate that in the absence of large-scale water movement, due to rainfall, fertiliser fails to penetrate into the soil. This motivates us to build a model for water movement and uptake by branched root structures. This model considers the simultaneous flow of water in the soil, uptake by the roots, and flow within the root branching network to the stems of the plant. The water uptake model shows that the water saturation can develop pseudo-steadystate wet and dry zones in the rooting region of the soil. The dry zone is shown to stop the movement of nutrient from the top of the soil to the groundwater. Finally we present a model for the simultaneous movement and uptake of both nutrients and water. This is discussed as a new tool for interpreting available experimental results and designing future experiments. The parallels between evolution and mathematical optimisation are also discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

“…This question has been of great interest to experimental and theoretical biologists [131], [34]. Experimental studies have found that most of the water uptake by a zero order root occurs near the tip of the root [131].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A mathematical model of plant nutrient uptake

Koebernick¹,

Fowler²,

Darrah

2001

Journal of Mathematical Biology

111

159

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the mature root system and at a certain distance from the tip, xylem vessels acting as transport pipes (Tron et al 2012) for axial flow towards the stem exert only minor resistance (Doussan et al 1998). Water transport in the stem xylem has long been studied in relation to the cohesion-tension theory (Tyree 1997).…”

Section: Plant Properties and Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management of crop water under drought: a review

Bodner

Nakhforoosh

Kaul

2015

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

434

234

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Drought is a predominant cause of low yields worldwide. There is an urgent need for more water efficient cropping systems facing large water consumption of irrigated agriculture and high unproductive losses via runoff and evaporation. Identification of yield-limiting constraints in the plant-soil-atmosphere continuum are the key to improved management of plant water stress. Crop ecology provides a systematic approach for this purpose integrating soil hydrology and plant physiology into the context of crop production. We review main climate, soil and plant properties and processes that determine yield in different water-limited environments. From this analysis, management measures for cropping systems under specific drought conditions are derived. Major findings from literature analysis are as follows. (1) Unproductive water losses such as evaporation and runoff increase from continental in-season rainfall climates to storage-dependent winter rainfall climates. Highest losses occur under tropical residual moisture regimes with short intense rainy season. (2) Sites with a climatic dry season require adaptation via phenology and water saving to ensure stable yields. Intermittent droughts can be buffered via the root system, which is still largely underutilised for better stress resistance. (3) At short-term better management options such as mulching and date of seeding allow to adjust cropping systems to site constraints. Adapted cultivars can improve the synchronisation between crop water demand and soil supply. At long term, soil hydraulic and plant physiological constraints can be overcome by changing tillage systems and breeding new varieties with higher stress resistance. (4) Interactions between plant and soil, particularly in the rhizosphere, are a way towards better crop water supply. Targeted management of such plant-soil interactions is still at infancy.We conclude that understanding site-specific stress hydrology is imperative to select the most efficient measures to mitigate stress. Major progress in future can be expected from crop ecology focussing on the management of complex plant (root)-soil interactions.

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“…Water-uptake from soil by a plant's root system has been studied extensively during the past seven decades (Philip, 1957;Gardner, 1960;Cowan, 1965;Landsberg & Fowkes, 1978;Molz, 1981;Passioura, 1988;Steudle & Peterson, 1998;Doussan et al, 1998;Steudle, 2000;Raats, 2007;Roose & Schnepf, 2008;Stroock et al, 2014). A single root has been historically modelled as an infinitely long porous cylinder with a two dimensional radial flow around the cylindrical root (Gardner, 1960;Landsberg & Fowkes, 1978;Ratts, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing hydraulic resistance of a plant root by shape optimization

Chandrashekar

Chen

2016

Mechanics Research Communications

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Analytical solution of the pressure field for water uptake through a composite root, coupled with fully saturated soil is derived by using the slender body approximation. It is shown that in general, the resistance of the root and soil are not additive. This result can play a very important role in modelling water uptake through plant roots and determination of hydraulic resistances of plant roots. Optimum plant root structure that minimizes a single root's hydraulic resistance is also studied in this work with the constraint of prescribed root volume. Hydraulic resistances under the slender body approximation and without such a limitation are considered. It is found that for large stele-to-cortex permeability ratio, there exists an optimum root length-to-base-radius ratio that minimizes the hydraulic resistance.A remarkable feature of the optimum root structure is that the optimum dimensionless stele conductivity depends only on a single geometrical parameter, the stele-to-root base-radius ratio. Once the stele-to-root base-radius ratio and the stele-to-cortex permeability ratio are given, the optimum root length-to-radius ratio can be found. While these findings remain to be verified by experiments for real plant roots, they offer theoretical guidance for the design of bio-inspired structures that minimizes hydraulic resistance for fluid production from porous media.ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Chen, my thesis advisor, for the encouragement and support that he has provided at every step and for being a great teacher.

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Modelling of the Hydraulic Architecture of Root Systems: An Integrated Approach to Water Absorption—Distribution of Axial and Radial Conductances in Maize

Cited by 148 publications

References 24 publications

A mathematical model of plant nutrient uptake

A mathematical model of plant nutrient uptake

Management of crop water under drought: a review

Minimizing hydraulic resistance of a plant root by shape optimization

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