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Root Elongation along a Soil‐Plastic Container Interface 1
Author(s) -
Voorhees W. B.
Publication year - 1976
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/agronj1976.00021962006800010040x
Subject(s) - elongation , container (type theory) , agronomy , materials science , environmental science , biology , composite material , ultimate tensile strength
Root growth is often studied in glass‐fronted containers which allow continuous observation of several growth parameters. These observations are generally assumed to extrapolate to root growth under field conditions. However, laboratory studies reported here show that root elongation rates along a soil‐container interface in soil cores are significantly lower than those measured within the bulk soil mass. These differences are probably due either to higher soil strength at the interface or to an attracting electrical charge on the container surface, or both.