Rooting Volume of Corn and Alfalfa in Shale‐Influenced Soils in Northwestern Illinois

Abstract

Corn roots (Zea mays L.) did not penetrate calcareous Maquoketa shale (IIC) horizons appreciably in four soils derived from thin loess on shale in northwestern Illinois. Alfalfa roots (Medicago sativa L.), in contrast, penetrated the shale horizons to considerable depths. This difference in rooting behavior of the two plants probably explains the better adaptation of a perennial taprooted plant such as alfalfa to these soils than an annual plant such as corn. The shale (IIC) horizons had low total porosities «38%), very low noncapillary porosities «1.5'%), high bulk densities (>1.69 g/cc), and were impermeable to water. Bulk density slightly greater than 1.80 g/cc and intraped porosity of slightly less than 32% of discrete peds in the IIC horizons appear to be limiting to corn root penetration. Seepage and erosion problems on these soils are related to the impermeable nature and depth to the underlying shale.

Influence of root system morphology and site characteristics on development of transplanted northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) seedlings

“…A great number of workers have noted that roots are unable to penetrate high density soil materials with little pore space (e.g. Fehrenbacher et al, 1965). Taylor (1974) indicated, however, that if other factors were more GO limiting (e.g.…”

“…Some workers have noted significant variation in seedling growth related to soil depth or "effective rooting depth" (Hay et al, 1987). This factor most often comes into play where soils are shallow to some impervious barrier such as a soil pan or bedrock (Fehrenbacher et al, 1965;Yen et al, 1978;Gale and Grigal, 1986).…”

Evaluation of the characteristics of 14 cover crops used in a soil rehabilitation trial

“…Plant roots have been recognised as potential tillage tools (Elkins, 1985), and various crops such as alfalfa (Medicago sativa) (Fehrenbacher et al, 1965;Meek, et al, 1990Meek, et al, , 1992, guinea grass (Panicurn maximum) (Lugo-Lopez, 1960), bahia grass (Paspalurn notaturn) (Elkins, 1985), pigeon pea and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) (Maurya and Lal, 1979) have been shown to be capable of penetrating dense horizons. The biopores formed by the roots of these crops have frequently resulted in four-fold or greater increases in infiltration rates (Kemper and Derpsch, 1981;Meek, et al, 1992).…”