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Root‐System Development and Water‐Extraction Model Considering Hydrotropism
Author(s) -
Tsutsumi D.,
Kosugi K.,
Mizuyama T.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2003.3870
Subject(s) - root system , gravitropism , extraction (chemistry) , water extraction , root (linguistics) , elongation , water flow , botany , biological system , soil science , biology , geology , chemistry , materials science , chromatography , linguistics , philosophy , biochemistry , arabidopsis , ultimate tensile strength , mutant , metallurgy , gene
A two‐dimensional model that combines root‐system development and water extraction by roots is proposed to simulate the dynamic interaction between root growth and soil‐water flow. Both of hydrotropism and gravitropism were considered as the controlling factors of root growth in the proposed root‐system development model. The finite‐element method was employed to compute the soil‐water flow caused by water extraction, evaporation, and irrigation. We succeeded in simulating the plagiogravitropic elongations of lateral roots under a plane condition, and the asymmetric architecture of root system under a slope condition by the proposed model in which the root hydrotropism is considered. On the other hand, we cannot simulate such morphological characteristics of a root system by the use of the conventional model in which a random elongation factor is employed, and root hydrotropism is not considered. The results support the importance of hydrotropism in root‐system development and the availability of the proposed model in which the hydrotropism is considered.