Assessment of a rapid method, using soil cores, for estimating the amount and distribution of crop roots in the field

Abstract

A study was made of the relationship between the number of roots (Nr) observed on unit area of the freshly exposed, horizontal faces of soil cores, and the amounts of roots (per unit volume) present in the same cores. Soil cores, 7 cm diameter, were extracted to depths of 1 m from cereal crops in 1976 at three field sites located on clay soils. Sampling was either at the start of stem elongation, or at anthesis. Estimates of root length per unit soil volume (L) were derived from Nr by assuming random orientation of roots in the soil.