scholarly journals Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Upland-Rice Root Architecture in Relation to Phosphate: 3D Simulations Highlight the Importance of S-Type Lateral Roots for Reducing the Pay-Off Time

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Gonzalez ◽  
Johannes Postma ◽  
Matthias Wissuwa

The rice root system develops a large number of nodal roots from which two types of lateral roots branch out, large L-types and fine S-types, the latter being unique to the species. All roots including S-types are covered by root hairs. To what extent these fine structures contribute to phosphate (P) uptake under P deficiency was investigated using a novel 3-D root growth model that treats root hairs as individual structures with their own Michaelis-Menten uptake kinetics. Model simulations indicated that nodal roots contribute most to P uptake followed by L-type lateral roots and S-type laterals and root hairs. This is due to the much larger root surface area of thicker nodal roots. This thickness, however, also meant that the investment in terms of P needed for producing nodal roots was very large. Simulations relating P costs and time needed to recover that cost through P uptake suggest that producing nodal roots represents a considerable burden to a P-starved plant, with more than 20 times longer pay-off time compared to S-type laterals and root hairs. We estimated that the P cost of these fine root structures is low enough to be recovered within a day of their formation. These results expose a dilemma in terms of optimizing root system architecture to overcome P deficiency: P uptake could be maximized by developing more nodal root tissue, but when P is growth-limiting, adding more nodal root tissue represents an inefficient use of the limiting factor P. In order to improve adaption to P deficiency in rice breeding two complementary strategies seem to exist: (1) decreasing the cost or pay-off time of nodal roots and (2) increase the biomass allocation to S-type roots and root hairs. To what extent genotypic variation exists within the rice gene pool for either strategy should be investigated.

2013 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying L. Chen ◽  
Vanessa M. Dunbabin ◽  
Art J. Diggle ◽  
Kadambot H. M. Siddique ◽  
Zed Rengel

Lupinus angustifolius L. (narrow-leafed lupin) is an important grain legume crop for the stockfeed industry in Australia. This species does not form cluster roots regardless of phosphorus (P) nutrition. We hypothesise that this species may have adaptive strategies for achieving critical P uptake in low-P environments by altering shoot growth and root architecture and secreting carboxylates from roots. Three wild genotypes of L. angustifolius with contrasting root architecture were selected to investigate the influence of P starvation on root growth and rhizosphere carboxylate exudation and their relationship with P acquisition. Plants were grown in sterilised loamy soil supplied with zero, low (50 μm) or optimal (400 μm) P for 6 weeks. All genotypes showed a significant response in shoot and root development to varying P supply. At P deficit (zero and low P), root systems were smaller and had fewer branches than did roots at optimal P. The amount of total carboxylates in the rhizosphere extracts ranged from 3.4 to 17.3 μmol g–1 dry root. The total carboxylates comprised primarily citrate (61–78% in various P treatments), followed by malate and acetate. Genotype #085 (large root system with deep lateral roots) exuded the greatest amount of total carboxylates to the rhizosphere for each P treatment, followed by #016 (medium root system with good branched lateral roots) and #044 (small root system with short and sparse lateral roots). All genotypes in the low-P treatment significantly enhanced exudation of carboxylates, whereas no significant increase in carboxylate exudation was observed in the zero-P treatment. Small-rooted genotypes had higher P concentration than the medium- and large-rooted genotypes, although larger plants accumulated higher total P content. Large-rooted genotypes increased shoot P utilisation efficiency in response to P starvation. This study showed that narrow-leafed lupin genotypes differing in root architecture differed in carboxylate exudation and P uptake. Our finding suggested that for L. angustifolius there is a minimum plant P concentration below which carboxylate exudation is not enhanced despite severe P deficiency. The outcomes of this study enhance our understanding of P acquisition strategies in L. angustifolius genotypes, which can be used for the selection of P-efficient genotypes for cropping systems.


2019 ◽  
Vol 124 (6) ◽  
pp. 961-968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Klamer ◽  
Florian Vogel ◽  
Xuelian Li ◽  
Hinrich Bremer ◽  
Günter Neumann ◽  
...  

Abstract Background and Aims Root hairs are single-cell extensions of the epidermis that face into the soil and increase the root–soil contact surface. Root hairs enlarge the rhizosphere radially and are very important for taking up water and sparingly soluble nutrients, such as the poorly soil-mobile phosphate. In order to quantify the importance of root hairs for maize, a mutant and the corresponding wild type were compared. Methods The rth2 maize mutant with very short root hairs was assayed for growth and phosphorus (P) acquisition in a slightly alkaline soil with low P and limited water supply in the absence of mycorrhization and with ample P supply. Key Results Root and shoot growth was additively impaired under P deficiency and drought. Internal P concentrations declined with reduced water and P supply, whereas micronutrients (iron, zinc) were little affected. The very short root hairs in rth2 did not affect internal P concentrations, but the P content of juvenile plants was halved under combined stress. The rth2 plants had more fine roots and increased specific root length, but P mobilization traits (root organic carbon and phosphatase exudation) differed little. Conclusions The results confirm the importance of root hairs for maize P uptake and content, but not for internal P concentrations. Furthermore, the performance of root hair mutants may be biased by secondary effects, such as altered root growth.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (20) ◽  
pp. 5144
Author(s):  
Huwei Sun ◽  
Xiaoli Guo ◽  
Fugui Xu ◽  
Daxia Wu ◽  
Xuhong Zhang ◽  
...  

The response of root architecture to phosphate (P) deficiency is critical in plant growth and development. Auxin is a key regulator of plant root growth in response to P deficiency, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. In this study, phenotypic and genetic analyses were undertaken to explore the role of OsPIN2, an auxin efflux transporter, in regulating the growth and development of rice roots under normal nutrition condition (control) and low-phosphate condition (LP). Higher expression of OsPIN2 was observed in rice plants under LP compared to the control. Meanwhile, the auxin levels of roots were increased under LP relative to control condition in wild-type (WT) plants. Compared to WT plants, two overexpression (OE) lines had higher auxin levels in the roots under control and LP. LP led to increased seminal roots (SRs) length and the root hairs (RHs) density, but decreased lateral roots (LRs) density in WT plants. However, overexpression of OsPIN2 caused a loss of sensitivity in the root response to P deficiency. The OE lines had a shorter SR length, lower LR density, and greater RH density than WT plants under control. However, the LR and RH densities in the OE lines were similar to those in WT plants under LP. Compared to WT plants, overexpression of OsPIN2 had a shorter root length through decreased root cell elongation under control and LP. Surprisingly, overexpression of OsPIN2 might increase auxin distribution in epidermis of root, resulting in greater RH formation but less LR development in OE plants than in WT plants in the control condition but levels similar of these under LP. These results suggest that higher OsPIN2 expression regulates rice root growth and development maybe by changing auxin distribution in roots under LP condition.


1989 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 489 ◽  
Author(s):  
RF Brennan

Wheat was grown in a slightly acid grey sand at six levels of phosphorus and four levels of nitrogen, in the presence and absence of inoculum of Gaeurnannomyces graminis tritici (Ggt) in a glasshouse experiment. Adequate nutrition of N (400 mg/pot) and P (100 mg/pot) for wheat plants was required to overcome take-all of wheat grown for 46 days. Severely N and P deficient plants had 60% of their seminal and nodal roots infected by take-all. As the plants responded to increasing levels of N and P, the percentage of infected nodal and seminal roots steadily declined to 0% and 10% for each root system respectively at luxury levels of P and adequate N. In both the seminal and nodal root system, increasing the N and P supply decreased the length of proximal lesions (closest to seed) and increased the length of the root between the crown and the proximal lesion. The seminal root system was more severely infected with take-all than the nodal root system.


Author(s):  
Christian W. Kuppe ◽  
Guy J D Kirk ◽  
Matthias Wissuwa ◽  
Johannes A Postma

Upland rice (Oryza sativa) is adapted to strongly phosphorus (P) sorbing soils. The mechanisms underlying P acquisition, however, are not well understood, and models typically underestimate uptake. This complicates root ideotype development and trait-based selection for further improvement. We present a novel model, which correctly simulates the P uptake by a P-efficient rice genotype measured over 48 days of growth. The model represents root morphology at the local rhizosphere scale, including root hairs and fine S-type laterals. It simulates fast-and slowly reacting soil P and the P-solubilizing effect of root-induced pH changes in the soil. Simulations predict that the zone of pH changes and P solubilization around a root spreads further into the soil than the zone of P depletion. A root needs to place laterals outside its depletion-but inside its solubilization zone to maximize P uptake. S-type laterals, which are short but hairy, appear to be the key root structures to achieve that. Thus, thicker roots facilitate the P uptake by fine lateral roots. Uptake can be enhanced through longer root hairs and greater root length density but was less sensitive to total root length and root class proportions.


HortScience ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 1119b-1119
Author(s):  
D. M. Glenn ◽  
W. V. Welker

Carbon dioxide is produced by microbial and plant respiration and accumulates in the soil. In previous field studies, CO2 levels were higher under a killed sod soil management system, relative to cultivation and herbicide systems (1.8 vs 0.8 and 1.0%), respectively. Our objective in these studies was to measure the effect of elevated levels of root system CO2 on root and shoot growth and nutrient uptake. Using soil and hydroponic systems in greenhouse studies, we maintained root system CO2 levels between 1.5 and 2.5%. Control CO2 levels were less than 1%. Root length density and dry matter partitioning to the root system were increased by root CO2 in soil and hydroponic studies; shoot growth was unaffected. In hydroponic culture, root CO2 increased P uptake, solution pH, root volume and the number of lateral roots/cm root axis. Elevated levels of CO2 in the root system stimulated root growth in both the soil and hydroponic studies.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarosław Tyburski ◽  
Kamila Dunajska-Ordak ◽  
Monika Skorupa ◽  
Andrzej Tretyn

Arabidopsis root system responds to phosphorus (P) deficiency by decreasing primary root elongation and developing abundant lateral roots. Feeding plants with ascorbic acid (ASC) stimulated primary root elongation in seedlings grown under limiting P concentration. However, at high P, ASC inhibited root growth. Seedlings of ascorbate-deficient mutant (vtc1) formed short roots irrespective of P availability. P-starved plants accumulated less ascorbate in primary root tips than those grown under high P. ASC-treatment stimulated cell divisions in root tips of seedlings grown at low P. At high P concentrations ASC decreased the number of mitotic cells in the root tips. The lateral root density in seedlings grown under P deficiency was decreased by ASC treatments. At high P, this parameter was not affected by ASC-supplementation. vtc1 mutant exhibited increased lateral root formation on either, P-deficient or P-sufficient medium. Irrespective of P availability, high ASC concentrations reduced density and growth of root hairs. These results suggest that ascorbate may participate in the regulation of primary root elongation at different phosphate availability via its effect on mitotic activity in the root tips.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1556
Author(s):  
Yucong Xie ◽  
Bala Rathinasabapathi ◽  
Bruce Schaffer ◽  
Rao Mylavarapu ◽  
Guodong Liu

Root hairs play an important role in phosphorus (P) nutrition of plants. To better understand the relationship between root hairs and P acquisition efficiency (PAE) in barley, experiments were conducted with the wild-type barley (cv. ’Pallas’) and its root-hairless mutant (brb). A hydroponic split-root system was used to supply P as Ca3(PO4)2 (tri-calcium phosphate, TCP) to one-half and other nutrients to the other half of the root system. Using TCP as a sole P source can simulate a soil solution with buffered low P concentration in hydroponics to induce prolific root hair growth. Root morphology, plant growth, and P uptake efficiency were measured with 50 mg L−1 TCP supplied to the roots in the split-root system and 0, 35, or 1000 μM NaH2PO4 in a non-split-root hydroponic system. The wild-type plants developed root hairs, but they did not contribute to the significant genotypic differences in the P uptake rate when a soluble P source was supplied in the non-split root system, indicating that root hair formation does not contribute to P uptake in a non-split root solution. On the other hand, when grown in a split-root system with one-half of the roots supplied with TCP, the wild-type showed 1.25-fold greater P uptake than the root hairless mutant. This study provides evidence that root hairs play an essential role in plant P uptake when P bioavailability is limited in the root zone.


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