Abstract
Aims
Perennial crops with more extensive and deep root systems could access deep stored water and build resilience to water shortage. In the context of human nutrition, perennial grain crops are very interesting. However, it is still questionable whether they are effective in using subsoil water. We compared intermediate wheatgrass (Kernza®) Thinopyrum intermedium, a perennial grain crop, to alfalfa Medicago sativa, a forage crop, for subsoil root growth and water uptake. Alfalfa was chosen because of its deep root system and agronomical interest as a companion crop.
Methods
Using TDR sensors, deuterium tracer labelling, minirhizotrons and the Hydrus-1D model we characterised the root distribution and water uptake patterns of these two perennial crops during two cropping seasons under field conditions down to 2.5 m soil depth.
Results
Both crops grew roots down to 2.0 m depth that were active in water uptake but alfalfa was deeper rooted than intermediate wheatgrass. All experimental methods concluded that alfalfa used more water from below 1.0 m depth than intermediate wheatgrass. However, simulations predicted that intermediate wheatgrass used more than 20 mm of water after anthesis from below 1 m soil depth. Simulations confirmed the advantage of deep roots in accessing deep soil water under drought.
Conclusions
In regions with high groundwater recharge, growing deep-rooted perennial crops have great potential to exploit deep soil water that is often left unused. However, the road to a profitable perennial grain crop is still long and breeding intermediate wheatgrass (Kernza®) cultivars for increased root growth at depth seems to be a worthy investment for the development of more drought tolerant cultivars.
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Data are available upon request to the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Allan Esben Hansen, Jason Allen Teem and Anders Kristian Nørgaard for technical help in the field with installation of infrastructures and data collection, to Niels Alvin Faircloth Olsen for facilitating the image processing, to Eva Rosenqvist for lending us research equipment, to Nicolas Angeli, Loic Louis and Damien Bonal for fruitful discussions and help in designing and processing the water isotopes samples and to Fulai Liu, Tim Crews and Tomke Susanne Wacker for fruitful discussions and support during this study. The authors would like to thank John Kirkegaard and Kirsten Verburg for their valuable comments on the manuscript.
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This research was funded by the Villum Foundation (DeepFrontier project, grant number VKR023338).
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CC, DBD, SFS and KTK conceived and designed the study. CC collected the data with assistance from JS on the isotope and soil coring campaign. JS and ED implemented the HYDRUS-1D model. AGS and CC analysed the minirhizotron images. CC analysed the data and wrote the paper with guidance from ED, DBD, and KTK. All authors reviewed and approved the manuscript.
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Clément, C., Sleiderink, J., Svane, S.F. et al. Comparing the deep root growth and water uptake of intermediate wheatgrass (Kernza®) to alfalfa. Plant Soil 472, 369–390 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05248-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-05248-6