Genetic Variation in the Effects of Root Impedance on Growth and Transpiration Rates of Wheat and Barley

Abstract

Genotypes of wheat and barley, including modern and landrace lines, were compared in their response to soil resistance to root penetration during the early vegetative phase (up to 5 leaf stage). All genotypes exhibited reduced growth and transpiration rates at high soil resistance, but there was large variation in the magnitude and time course of these effects and in the mechanisms underlying the growth reduction (changes in net assimilation rate, carbon partitioning within the plant, relative effects of leaf primordia development, versus growth of expanding leaves). Similar wide ranges of responses were observed among landrace and modern wheats. In both wheat and barley, the genotypes with lower sensitivity to soil resistance, in terms of relative growth rate, were those with the slowest net assimilation rate and root growth rate at low soil resistance, and those for which carbon allocation to the impeded roots, relative to the shoot, was significantly increased, to the extent that root relative growth rate even became greater (in terms of mass, not of length) than on loose soil. For a number of genotypes, growth was slowed down throughout the experiment whereas for others it was reduced only during the first few days following germination. In contrast, transpiration rate was at all stages lower at high than at low soil resistance. This indicates that the effects of soil resistance to root penetration on stomatal conductance involve different controls - or different sensitivities to a common signal - from those operating on cell division and expansion.