Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Neutron radiography as a tool for revealing root development in soil: capabilities and limitations

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
Plant and Soil Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Neutron Radiography (NR) is a valuable non-invasive tool to study in situ root development in soil. However, there is a lacuna of quantitative information on its capabilities and limitations. We combined neutron radiography with image analysis techniques to quantify the neutron absorption coefficients (Σ) of various root-growth media for a range of water contents (θ) in the presence and absence of plant roots with various rooting systems. Plants were grown in aluminium containers (170 × 150 × 12 mm) and were imaged using NR, as well as X-Ray radiography and an optical scanner. Sandy soil was the best medium for NR because it supported plant growth at θ that gave a good contrast for root visualisation. After correction for neutron scattering, we obtained a linear correlation between Σ and soil θ. The minimum detectable root thickness in neutron radiographs was found to be 0.2 mm in these containers. Combining NR with X-Ray radiography could provide information on soil structure in addition to revealing root structure and development.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen RG, Pererira LS, Raes D, Smith M (1998) Crop evapotranspiration. Guidelines for computing crop water requirements. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey IF (2003) A review of sample environments in neutron scattering. Zeitschrift Fur Kristallographie 218:84–95

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bois JF, Couchat P (1983) Comparison of the effects of water-stress on the root systems of 2 cultivars of upland rice (Oryza-Sativa-L). Ann Bot 52:479–487

    Google Scholar 

  • Bottomley PA, Rogers HH, Prior SA (1993) Nmr imaging of root water distribution in intact Vicia-Faba L plants in elevated atmospheric Co2. Plant Cell Environ 16:335–338

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Costa C, Dwyer LM, Hamel C, Muamba DF, Wang XL, Nantais L, Smith DL (2001) Root contrast enhancement for measurement with optical scanner-based image analysis. Can J Bot-Revue Canadienne De Botanique 79:23–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doussan C, Pages L, Pierret A (2003) Soil exploration and resource acquisition by plant roots: an architectural and modelling point of view. Agronomie 23:419–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fitz W, Puschenreiter M, Schweiger P, Wenzel WW (2005) Novel tools for investigating rhizosphere processes. Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society 230:U1789–U1790

    Google Scholar 

  • Furukawa J, Nakanishi TM, Matsubayashi H (1999) Neutron radiography of a root growing in soil with vanadium. Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res Sect A 424:116–121

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gregory PJ, Hutchison DJ, Read DB, Jenneson PM, Gilboy WB, Morton EJ (2003) Non-invasive imaging of roots with high resolution X-ray micro-tomography. Plant Soil 255:351–359

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hall LD, Amin MHG, Dougherty E, Sanda M, Votrubova J, Richards KS, Chorley RJ, Cislerova M (1997) MR properties of water in saturated soils and resulting loss of MRI signal in water content detection at 2 tesla. Geoderma 80:431–448

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hassanein RK (2006) Correction methods for the quantitative evaluation of thermal neutron tomography. ETH Zurich, Switzerland

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassanein R, Lehmann E, Vontobel P (2005) Methods of scattering corrections for quantitative neutron radiography. Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res Sect A 542:353–360

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heyes JA, Clark CJ (2003) Magnetic resonance imaging of water movement through asparagus. Funct Plant Biol 30:1089–1095

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoagland DR, Arnon DI (1938) The water culture method for growing plants without soil. Calif Agric Exp Stn 347:1–39

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kasperl S, Vontobel P (2005) Application of an iterative artefact reduction method to neutron tomography. Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res Sect A 542:392–398

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kuchenbuch RO, Ingram KT (2002) Image analysis for non-destructive and non-invasive quantification of root growth and soil water content in rhizotrons. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science-Z PflanzenernaÉhr Bodenkd 165:573–581

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhne G, Frei G, Lehmann E, Vontobel P (2005) CNR—the new beamline for cold neutron imaging at the Swiss spallation neutron source SINQ. Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res Sect A 542:264–270

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann E, Pleinert H, Williams T, Pralong C (1999) Application of new radiation detection techniques at the Paul Scherrer Institut, especially at the spallation neutron source. Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res Sect A 424:158–164

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Majdi H (1996) Root sampling methods—Applications and limitations of the minirhizotron technique. Plant Soil 185:255–258

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Matsushima U, Kawabata Y, Hino M, Geltenbort P, Nicolai BM (2005) Measurement of changes in water thickness in plant materials using very low-energy neutron radiography. Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res Sect A 542:76–80

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Menon M, Robinson B, Oswald SE, Kaestner A, Abbaspour KC, Lehmann E, Schulin R (2007) Visualization of root growth in heterogeneously contaminated soil using neutron radiography. Eur J Soil Sci 58:802–810

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moran CJ, Pierret A, Stevenson AW (2000) X-ray absorption and phase contrast imaging to study the interplay between plant roots and soil structure. Plant Soil 223:99–115

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Naftel SJ, Martin RR, Sham TK, Macfie SM, Jones KW (2001) Micro-synchrotron X-ray fluorescence of cadmium-challenged corn roots. J Electron Spectrosc Relat Phenom 119:235–239

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nakaji T, Noguchi K, Oguma H (2008) Classification of rhizosphere components using visible-near infrared spectral images. Plant Soil 310:245–261

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nakanishi TM, Okuni Y, Furukawa J, Tanoi K, Yokota H, Ikeue N, Matsubayashi M, Uchida H, Tsiji A (2003) Water movement in a plant sample by neutron beam analysis as well as positron emission tracer imaging system. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 255:149–153

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nakanishi TM, Okuni Y, Hayashi Y, Nishiyama H (2005) Water gradient profiles at bean plant roots determined by neutron beam analysis. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 264:313–317

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oswald SE, Menon M, Robinson B, Carminati A, Vontobel P, Lehmann E, Schulin R (2008) Quantitative imaging of infiltration, root growth, and root water uptake via neutron radiography. Vadose Zone Journal 7:1035–1047

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierret A (2008) Multi-spectral imaging of rhizobox systems: new perspectives for the observation and discrimination of rhizosphere components. Plant Soil 310:263–268

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pierret A, Doussan C, Garrigues E, Mc Kirby J (2003a) Observing plant roots in their environment: current imaging options and specific contribution of two-dimensional approaches. Agronomie 23:471–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierret A, Kirby M, Moran C (2003b) Simultaneous X-ray imaging of plant root growth and water uptake in thin-slab systems. Plant Soil 255:361–373

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pierret A, Moran CJ, Doussan C (2005) Conventional detection methodology is limiting our ability to understand the roles and functions of fine roots. New Phytol 166:967–980

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sutton RF, Tinus RW (1983) Root and root system terminology. For Sci Monogr 24:137

    Google Scholar 

  • Tumlinson LG, Liu HY, Silk WK, Hopmans JW (2008) Thermal neutron computed tomography of soil water and plant roots. Soil Sci Soc Am J 72:1234–1242

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vogt KA, Vogt DJ, Bloomfield J (1998) Analysis of some direct and indirect methods for estimating root biomass and production of forests at an ecosystem level. Plant Soil 200:71–89

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Waisel Y, Eshel A, Kafkafi Z (Eds.) (2002) Plant roots: the hidden half. Marcel Dekker, New York

  • Willatt ST, Struss RG (1979) Germination and early growth of plants studied using neutron radiography. Ann Bot 43:415–422

    Google Scholar 

  • Willatt ST, Struss RG, Taylor HM (1978) Insitu root studies using neutron radiography. Agron J 70:581–586

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Dr. Héctor Conesa had a grant from Fundación Séneca of Comunidad Autónoma de Murcia (Spain).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Soil Protection group, ETH Zurich, CHN F28.2, Universitaetstrasse 16, CH-8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Ahmad B. Moradi, Héctor M. Conesa, Brett Robinson & Rainer Schulin

  2. Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland

    Eberhard Lehmann, Guido Kuehne & Anders Kaestner

  3. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Sascha Oswald

Authors
  1. Ahmad B. Moradi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Héctor M. Conesa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Brett Robinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Eberhard Lehmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Guido Kuehne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Anders Kaestner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Sascha Oswald
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Rainer Schulin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmad B. Moradi.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Hans Lambers.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Moradi, A.B., Conesa, H.M., Robinson, B. et al. Neutron radiography as a tool for revealing root development in soil: capabilities and limitations. Plant Soil 318, 243–255 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9834-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9834-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation