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Dynamics of soil water content in the rhizosphere

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Abstract

Water flow from soil to plants depends on the properties of the soil next to roots, the rhizosphere. Although several studies showed that the rhizosphere has different properties than the bulk soil, effects of the rhizosphere on root water uptake are commonly neglected. To investigate the rhizosphere’s properties we used neutron radiography to image water content distributions in soil samples planted with lupins during drying and subsequent rewetting. During drying, the water content in the rhizosphere was 0.05 larger than in the bulk soil. Immediately after rewetting, the picture reversed and the rhizosphere remained markedly dry. During the following days the water content of the rhizosphere increased and after 60 h it exceeded that of the bulk soil. The rhizosphere’s thickness was approximately 1.5 mm. Based on the observed dynamics, we derived the distinct, hysteretic and time-dependent water retention curve of the rhizosphere. Our hypothesis is that the rhizosphere’s water retention curve was determined by mucilage exuded by roots. The rhizosphere properties reduce water depletion around roots and weaken the drop of water potential towards roots, therefore favoring water uptake under dry conditions, as demonstrated by means of analytical calculation of water flow to a single root.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Dani Or for suggesting the role of mucilage. We thank A. Badorreck and W. Schaaf for providing the soil. The positions of A. Carminati and A. Moradi were funded by the EU-Marie Curie Project “Water Watch”, contract MTKKD-2006-042724.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Andrea Carminati, Ahmad B. Moradi, Doris Vetterlein, Ulrich Weller, Hans-Jörg Vogel & Sascha E. Oswald

  2. Paul Scherrer Institute—PSI, Villigen, Switzerland

    Peter Vontobel & Eberhard Lehmann

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  1. Andrea Carminati
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  2. Ahmad B. Moradi
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  3. Doris Vetterlein
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  4. Peter Vontobel
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  5. Eberhard Lehmann
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  6. Ulrich Weller
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  7. Hans-Jörg Vogel
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  8. Sascha E. Oswald
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Correspondence to Andrea Carminati.

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Responsible Editor: Peter J. Gregory.

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Carminati, A., Moradi, A.B., Vetterlein, D. et al. Dynamics of soil water content in the rhizosphere. Plant Soil 332, 163–176 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0283-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0283-8

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