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Rooting Front and Water Uptake: What You See and Get May Differ
Author(s) -
Hall Antonio J.,
Sinclair Thomas R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj14.0551
Subject(s) - water extraction , zea mays , extraction (chemistry) , soil water , agronomy , front (military) , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , soil science , biology , chemistry , geology , geotechnical engineering , oceanography , chromatography
Soil water extraction is a key function of plant roots, and in drought‐stressed plants the differentiation in the location of roots in the soil and the location of water extraction has usually not been considered. In this experiment with maize ( Zea mays L.) grown in columns of drying sand, there was a clear lag in the depth of the water extraction front with respect to the depth of rooting. Under water‐deficit stress at least 10 cm to as much as 30 cm of the terminal segment of maize roots could not extract substrate water at measurable rates. These results showing a large difference in rooting and water extraction‐front depths indicate caution is needed in extrapolating between root position and water extraction.