Small-scale characterization of vine plant root water uptake via 3-D electrical resistivity tomography and mise-à-la-masse method

Mary, Benjamin; Peruzzo, Luca; Boaga, Jacopo; Schmutz, M.; Wu, Yuxin; Hubbard, Susan S.; Cassiani, Giorgio

doi:10.5194/hess-22-5427-2018

Cited by 43 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…The location of these sources should correspond to the locations of active contacts between roots and soil and could be identified starting from the measured voltage distribution at the ground surface or in boreholes. This approach has been recently tested by Mary et al (2018Mary et al ( , 2019 on vine trees and citrus trees, showing that current injection in the stem and in the soil just next to the stem produces very different voltage patterns, thus con-firming that the stem-root system conveys current differently from a direct injection in the ground.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time-lapse monitoring of root water uptake using electrical resistivity tomography and mise-à-la-masse: a vineyard infiltration experiment

Mary¹,

Peruzzo²,

Boaga³

et al. 2020

SOIL

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Abstract. This paper presents a time-lapse application of electrical methods (electrical resistivity tomography, ERT; and mise-à-la-masse, MALM) for monitoring plant roots and their activity (root water uptake) during a controlled infiltration experiment. The use of non-invasive geophysical monitoring is of increasing interest as these techniques provide time-lapse imaging of processes that otherwise can only be measured at few specific spatial locations. The experiment here described was conducted in a vineyard in Bordeaux (France) and was focused on the behaviour of two neighbouring grapevines. The joint application of ERT and MALM has several advantages. While ERT in time-lapse mode is sensitive to changes in soil electrical resistivity and thus to the factors controlling it (mainly soil water content, in this context), MALM uses DC current injected into a tree stem to image where the plant root system is in effective electrical contact with the soil at locations that are likely to be the same where root water uptake (RWU) takes place. Thus, ERT and MALM provide complementary information about the root structure and activity. The experiment shows that the region of likely electrical current sources produced by MALM does not change significantly during the infiltration time in spite of the strong changes of electrical resistivity caused by changes in soil water content. Ultimately, the interpretation of the current source distribution strengthened the hypothesis of using current as a proxy for root detection. This fact, together with the evidence that current injection in the soil and in the stem produces totally different voltage patterns, corroborates the idea that this application of MALM highlights the active root density in the soil. When considering the electrical resistivity changes (as measured by ERT) inside the stationary volume of active roots delineated by MALM, the overall tendency is towards a resistivity increase during irrigation time, which can be linked to a decrease in soil water content caused by root water uptake. On the contrary, when considering the soil volume outside the MALM-derived root water uptake region, the electrical resistivity tends to decrease as an effect of soil water content increase caused by the infiltration. The use of a simplified infiltration model confirms at least qualitatively this behaviour. The monitoring results are particularly promising, and the method can be applied to a variety of scales including the laboratory scale where direct evidence of root structure and root water uptake can help corroborate the approach. Once fully validated, the joint use of MALM and ERT can be used as a valuable tool to study the activity of roots under a wide variety of field conditions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time-lapse monitoring of root water uptake using electrical resistivity tomography and mise-à-la-masse: a vineyard infiltration experiment

Mary¹,

Peruzzo²,

Boaga³

et al. 2020

SOIL

Self Cite

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“…Werban et al (2008) imaged diurnal water dynamics in the rhizosphere of a pot experiment. Recently, Mary et al (2018) have proposed a variant of resistivity tomography, with current injection into the stem of vine plants, in order to gain information on the distribution of fine root hairs, finding a good correlation to expected rooting depths.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaging and functional characterization of crop root systems using spectroscopic electrical impedance measurements

Weigand

Kemna

2018

Plant Soil

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Background and aims Non-or minimally invasive methods are urgently needed to characterize and monitor crop root systems to foster progress in phenotyping and general system understanding. Electrical methods have come into focus due to their unique sensitivity to various structural and functional root characteristics. The aim of this study is to highlight imaging capabilities of these methods with regard to crop root systems and to investigate changes in electrical signals caused by physiological reactions. Methods Spectral electrical impedance tomography (sEIT) and electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used in three laboratory experiments to characterize oilseed root systems embedded in nutrient solution. Two experiments imaged the root extension with sEIT, including one experiment monitoring a nutrient stress situation. In the third experiment Responsible Editor: W Richard Whalley. Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (https://doi.electrical signatures were observed over the diurnal cycle using EIS.Results Root system extension was imaged using sEIT under static conditions. During continuous nutrient deprivation, electrical polarization signals decreased steadily. Systematic changes were observed over the diurnal cycle, indicating further sensitivity to associated physiological processes. Spectral parameters suggest polarization processes at the μm scale. Conclusions Electrical imaging methods are able to non-invasively characterize crop root systems in controlled laboratory conditions, thereby offering links to root structure and function. The methods have the potential to be upscaled to the field scale.

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“…In the December time-lapse of Figure 10 this pattern has disappeared, which may be an effect of seasonal changes in tree physiology or the general increase of soil moisture during the autumn months. Experiments by Cassiani et al, Mary et al and Michot et al [ 36 , 37 , 38 ] describe effects by roots on ERT in detail. The infiltrating surface water from the ditch with dissolved substances, and hence higher conductivity may also play a role in lowering soil resistivity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our homogenous profile was expected to overcome problems with variable soil properties and to exclude the necessary use of pedotransfer functions as discussed by [ 24 , 27 , 38 ]. It should be noted that pedotransfer functions are in general necessary to convert ERT measurements into quantitative soil moisture information [ 27 , 37 ]. In our experiment it was feasible to partly explain soil moisture spatial patterns after rainfall events, i.e., the development of the wetting front, and to correlate them to gravimetric moisture measurements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring Soil Moisture Dynamics Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography under Homogeneous Field Conditions

Jong

Heijenk

Nijland

et al. 2020

Sensors

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There is a gap between lab experiments where resistivity–soil moisture relations are generally very good and field studies in complex environmental settings where relations are always less good and complicated by many factors. An experiment was designed where environmental settings are more controlled, the best outside laboratory, to assess the transferability from lab to outdoor. A field experiment was carried out to evaluate the use of electric resistivity tomography (ERT) for monitoring soil moisture dynamics over a period of 67 days. A homogeneous site in the central part of The Netherlands was selected consisting of grass pasture on an aeolian sand soil profile. ERT values were correlated to gravimetric soil moisture samples for five depths at three different dates. Correlations ranged from 0.43 to 0.73 and were best for a soil depth of 90 cm. Resistivity patterns over time (time-lapse ERT) were analyzed and related to rainfall events where rainfall infiltration patterns could be identified. Duplicate ERT measurements showed that the noise level of the instrument and measurements is low and generally below 3% for the soil profile below the mixed layer but above the groundwater. Although the majority of the measured resistivity patterns could be well explained, some artefacts and dynamics were more difficult to clarify, even so in this homogeneous field situation. The presence of an oak tree with its root structure and a ditch with surface water with higher conductivity may have an impact on the resistivity pattern in the soil profile and over time. We conclude that ERT allows for detailed spatial measurement of local soil moisture dynamics resulting from precipitation although field experiments do not yield accuracies similar to laboratory experiments. ERT approaches are suitable for detailed spatial analyses where probe or sample-based methods are limited in reach or repeatability.

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Small-scale characterization of vine plant root water uptake via 3-D electrical resistivity tomography and mise-à-la-masse method

Cited by 43 publications

References 67 publications

Time-lapse monitoring of root water uptake using electrical resistivity tomography and mise-à-la-masse: a vineyard infiltration experiment

Time-lapse monitoring of root water uptake using electrical resistivity tomography and mise-à-la-masse: a vineyard infiltration experiment

Imaging and functional characterization of crop root systems using spectroscopic electrical impedance measurements

Monitoring Soil Moisture Dynamics Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography under Homogeneous Field Conditions

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