Abstract
Aim
Root growth and decay may affect root reinforcement to soil erosion and stability. We measured the effects of growth and decay on the tensile strength of Cynodon dactylon roots considering different causes of mortality common to agricultural land conversion (i.e. burning and herbicide application).
Method
We applied three treatments to C. dactylon grass: (i) growth duration (60, 120 and 180 days), (ii) decay duration after burning (30, 60, 120, 180 and 360 days) and (iii) decay duration after herbicide application (15, 30 and 60 days). The diameter, tensile strength and cellulose and lignin contents of root samples (n = 303) in different treatments were measured.
Results
Tensile strength–diameter relations followed a negative power law regardless of treatment (R2 > 0.6). The increase in median tensile strength values due to grass growth was consistent with the increase in cellulose and lignin contents. Root decay by herbicide application caused significantly greater and faster reduction in tensile strength than burning treatment because of the faster reduction of cellulose and lignin contents.
Conclusion
Root decay due to different causes of plant mortality can increase susceptibility to erosion and slope instability during the conversion of agricultural land. Measures on slope safety and erosion are vital when using herbicides for weed clearance in farmlands due to the faster deterioration of root chemical composition and root tensile strength (compared with burning).
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the first and corresponding authors upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The first author (V. Kamchoom) would like to thank the grant (MRG6280145) supported by Thailand Science Research and Innovation and the grant under Climate Change & Climate Variability Research in Monsoon Asia from the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). The second author (D. Boldrin) was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EPSRC project (EP/R005834/1) and thanks Katharine Preedy (Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland) for the helpful discussion. The second author also acknowledges the James Hutton Institute, which receives funding from the Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government. The third author (A. K. Leung) is thankful for the grants (GRF/16202720 and CRF/C6006-20G) funded by Hong Kong Research Grant Council, as well as the grant (No. 51922112) provided by NSFC for the time spent on this work. The scholarship of the fourth author (C. Sookkrajang) was supported by King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KREF016313). The last author (S. Likitlersuang) acknowledges Newton Advanced Fellowship (NA170293) from the Royal Society, United Kingdom and the NRCT (NRCT5-RSA63001-05).
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VK, DB, AL and SL conceived the research idea and designed the experiments. VK and CS conducted the experiments. DB performed the statistical analysis. VK, DB and AL contributed to writing the paper.
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Kamchoom, V., Boldrin, D., Leung, A.K. et al. Biomechanical properties of the growing and decaying roots of Cynodon dactylon. Plant Soil 471, 193–210 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05207-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05207-1