Summary
Various oxygen level treatments less than air were applied to sugar cane plants grown in cylinders, by varying the oxygen concentrations above the soil surface. Other soil factors were held relatively constant and non-limiting during the experiment. The oxygen treatments were not applied to the aerial parts of the plants except for the bases of the stems. In general, sugar cane root growth, as measured by the rate of root elongation, decreased with each decrease in applied oxygen concentrations. The decrease in root growth was gradual between air and about 3 oper cent applied oxygen. The decrease in root growth was very sharp between 3.0 and 0.0 per cent applied oxygen, and therefore very low oxygen concentrations were necessary to markedly affect root growth. Root growth, after only a short exposure of the soil surface to 0.0 per cent oxygen, virtually ceased.
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Banath, C.L., Monteith, N.H. Soil oxygen deficiency and sugar cane root growth. Plant Soil 25, 143–149 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01347968
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01347968