Distribution of Radial Growth During the Development of Red Pine Root Systems

Abstract

The patterns of ring width throughout the root systems and stems of several 32- to 36-year-old, plantation-grown red pine were analyzed. All root systems showed a basic similarity in their radial sequences of ring width. Within a root system, individual sequences ranged from those similar to the radial sequence at the stem base to ones apparently dissimilar. At the stem–root base, the increasing distance to the tree crown with time and changes in mechanical stresses with increasing tree size appeared to play major roles in the development of the basic pattern. The position and type of root, the environment of its apices, and changes in the transportation pathways in the xylem and phloem at branching points may all have influenced the pattern in individual roots. The pattern of deposition of xylem at branching points was visualized as an interaction between the stream of growth regulators and assimilates towards the root tips and the stream of xylem water (and (or) dissolved substances) towards the root base. Discontinuities in the growth layers did not occur in the stem but increased with time in the roots, particularly in the surface horizontal roots. Moisture availability modified the radial sequence patterns and probably influenced the shifts in longitudinal distribution of radial increment from year to year within and between the stem and the root system. The maximum current annual increment in root wood volume occurred before that in the stem.