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Tracing root-felt sodium concentrations under different transpiration rates and salinity levels

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Abstract

Aims

(1) Monitoring ‘root-felt’ salinity by using rhizoslides as a non-invasive method, (2) Studying how transpiration rate, salinity in irrigation water, and root water uptake affect sodium distribution around single roots, (3) Interpreting experimental results by using simulations with a 3-D root system architecture model coupled with water flow and solute transport models.

Methods

Tomato plants were grown on rhizoslides under various salinity levels and two transpiration rates: high and low. Daily root images were processed with GIMP and incorporated into a 3-D numerical model. The experiments were simulated with R-SWMS, a 3-dimensional numerical model that simulates water flow and solute transport in soil, into the root and inside root systems.

Results

Both experimental and simulation results displayed higher root-felt sodium concentrations compared with the bulk concentrations, and larger accumulation at higher transpiration rate. The simulations illustrated that the root-felt to bulk concentration ratio changed during the experiment depending both on the irrigation water salinity and transpiration rate.

Conclusions

Changes in sodium concentrations with transpiration rates are most likely caused by root water uptake and ion exclusion. Simulation results indicate that root-scale process models are required to link root system architecture, environmental, and soil conditions with root-felt salinities.

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Abbreviations

HT:

high transpiration rate

LT:

low transpiration rate

dist:

distance from the root interface

DDW:

double distilled water

EC:

electrical conductivity

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a Grant from the GIF, the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development and by the Israel Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Eugene Kandel Knowledge Centers) as part of the “Root of the Matter: The root zone knowledge center for leveraging modern agriculture.”

Author information

Author notes

  1. Adi Perelman

    Present address: French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

Authors and Affiliations

  1. French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

    Naftali Lazarovitch

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Helena Jorda & Jan Vanderborght

  3. Institute of Bio- and Geoscience, Agrosphere Institute, IBG-3, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

    Jan Vanderborght

Authors
  1. Adi Perelman
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  2. Helena Jorda
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  3. Jan Vanderborght
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  4. Naftali Lazarovitch
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Correspondence to Naftali Lazarovitch.

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Perelman, A., Jorda, H., Vanderborght, J. et al. Tracing root-felt sodium concentrations under different transpiration rates and salinity levels. Plant Soil 447, 55–71 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-03959-5

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