High water availability in drought tolerant crops is driven by root engineering of the soil micro-habitat

Sheikh M.F. Rabbi; Matthew K. Tighe; Charles R. Warren; Yi Zhou; Matthew D. Denton; Margaret M. Barbour; Iain M. Young

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114738

High water availability in drought tolerant crops is driven by root engineering of the soil micro-habitat

Sheikh M.F. Rabbi^*, Matthew K. Tighe, Charles R. Warren, Yi Zhou, Matthew D. Denton, Margaret M. Barbour, Iain M. Young

^*Corresponding author for this work

Environmental Science and Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Improving our understanding of drought tolerance of crops is essential in light of future predicted changes in rainfall, decreased groundwater availability, and increasing temperatures. With a focus on above ground traits, significant improvements in drought tolerance of plants has occurred. With such gains plateauing, we have sought to quantify the belowground functional interactions between plant roots and soil in relation to drought tolerance. Using physical, chemical and biological approaches, we compared drought tolerant and sensitive model plants to demonstrate that a tolerant plant alters both the surrounding pore geometry and the relative abundance of bacteria and upregulates the development of a slow wetting rhizosheath, which increases water uptake under drought conditions. We propose that such rhizosheath traits can be targeted to modify the biophysical properties of the rhizosheath to access water in drought conditions.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	114738
Journal	Geoderma
Volume	383
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114738
State	Published - Feb 1 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Erin Lockhart and Ralph Faux, Technical Officers, The University of Sydney, Australia for their support during the experiment. Authors acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Centre, Legumes for Sustainable Agriculture IH140100012. Financial support of this work was provided by the Australian Research Council (project ID: IH140100013) and the Grains Research and Development Corporation.

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Erin Lockhart and Ralph Faux, Technical Officers, The University of Sydney , Australia for their support during the experiment. Authors acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Centre, Legumes for Sustainable Agriculture IH140100012 . Financial support of this work was provided by the Australian Research Council (project ID: IH140100013 ) and the Grains Research and Development Corporation .

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords

Bacterial abundance
Pore geometry
Rhizodeposition
Rhizosheath
Sorptivity
Stomatal conductance

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Soil Science

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10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114738

Cite this

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title = "High water availability in drought tolerant crops is driven by root engineering of the soil micro-habitat",

abstract = "Improving our understanding of drought tolerance of crops is essential in light of future predicted changes in rainfall, decreased groundwater availability, and increasing temperatures. With a focus on above ground traits, significant improvements in drought tolerance of plants has occurred. With such gains plateauing, we have sought to quantify the belowground functional interactions between plant roots and soil in relation to drought tolerance. Using physical, chemical and biological approaches, we compared drought tolerant and sensitive model plants to demonstrate that a tolerant plant alters both the surrounding pore geometry and the relative abundance of bacteria and upregulates the development of a slow wetting rhizosheath, which increases water uptake under drought conditions. We propose that such rhizosheath traits can be targeted to modify the biophysical properties of the rhizosheath to access water in drought conditions.",

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author = "Rabbi, {Sheikh M.F.} and Tighe, {Matthew K.} and Warren, {Charles R.} and Yi Zhou and Denton, {Matthew D.} and Barbour, {Margaret M.} and Young, {Iain M.}",

note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank Erin Lockhart and Ralph Faux, Technical Officers, The University of Sydney, Australia for their support during the experiment. Authors acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Centre, Legumes for Sustainable Agriculture IH140100012. Financial support of this work was provided by the Australian Research Council (project ID: IH140100013) and the Grains Research and Development Corporation. Funding Information: We would like to thank Erin Lockhart and Ralph Faux, Technical Officers, The University of Sydney , Australia for their support during the experiment. Authors acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Centre, Legumes for Sustainable Agriculture IH140100012 . Financial support of this work was provided by the Australian Research Council (project ID: IH140100013 ) and the Grains Research and Development Corporation . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Elsevier B.V.",

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High water availability in drought tolerant crops is driven by root engineering of the soil micro-habitat

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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