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Root age distribution: how does it matter in plant processes? A focus on water uptake

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Abstract

Aims and background

Root growth creates a gradient in age at both the scale of the single root, from distal to proximal parts, but also at the root system level when young branch roots emerge from the axis or new nodal roots are emitted that may reach same soil domain as older roots. It is known that a number of root functions will vary with root type and root tissue age (e.g. respiration, exudation, ion uptake, root hydraulic conductance, mucilage release…) and so will the resulting rhizosphere properties. The impact of the distribution of root demography with depth, and related functions, on the overall functioning of the root system is fundamental for an integration of processes at the root system scale.

Scope and conclusion

Starting from methods for measuring root demography, we discuss the availability of data related to root age and its spatial distribution, considering plant types (monocot/dicot, perennial/annuals) which may exhibit different patterns. We then give a detailed review of variation of root/rhizosphere properties related to root age, focusing on root water uptake processes. We examine the type of response of certain properties to changes in age and whether a functional relationship can be derived. Integration of changing root properties with age into modelling approaches is shown from 3D models at the single plant scale to approaches at the field scale based on integrated root system age. Functional structural modelling combined with new development in non-invasive imaging of roots show promises for integrating influence of age on root properties, from the local to whole root system scales. However, experimental quantification of these properties, such as hydraulic conductance variation with root age and root types, or impact of mucilage and its degradation products on rhizosphere hydraulic properties, presently lag behind the theoretical developments and increase in computational power.

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Abbreviations

TTC assay:

Triphenyltetrazolium chloride assay

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

X-ray CT:

X-ray computed tomography

Kh:

Root hydraulic axial conductance

Lr:

Root hydraulic radial conductivity

Lo:

Root system hydraulic conductance (not normalized by root surface area)

Lpr:

Root system hydraulic conductivity (normalized by root surface area)

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Acknowledgments

Research is funded by DFG “Mucilage: the hydraulic bridge between roots and soil” VE 229/3-1 AOBJ: 610452 and by a grant from EU-EURoot project (KBBE-2011-5-289300). We thank Nico Koebernick and Katrin Huber for providing Fig. 2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Physics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, 06120, Halle/Saale, Germany

    Doris Vetterlein

  2. Soil Science, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Von-Seckendorff-Platz 3, 06120, Halle/Saale, Germany

    Doris Vetterlein

  3. INRA – UMR 1114 EMMAH – INRA / UAPV, Domaine Saint Paul, Site Agroparc, 228 Route de l’Aérodrome, CS 40509, F-84914, Avignon, France

    Claude Doussan

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Correspondence to Doris Vetterlein.

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Vetterlein, D., Doussan, C. Root age distribution: how does it matter in plant processes? A focus on water uptake. Plant Soil 407, 145–160 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-016-2849-6

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