MicroRNA-based markers as a tool to monitor the barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) response to soil compaction

Katarína Ražná,Vladimír Rataj,Miroslav Macák,Jana Galambošová

doi:10.15414/afz.2020.23.03.139-146

Katarína Ražná, Vladimír Rataj + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2020.23.03.139-146

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Abstract

Plants are often exposed to adverse environmental conditions that can significantly interfere with their genomic response. Soil compaction induced by heavy field machinery represents a major problem for crop production mainly due to restricted root growth and penetration into soil and therefore reduced water and nutrient uptake by the plants. Tested hypotheses were to declare whether the plant‘s genome responds to soil compaction and whether the microRNA-based markers are suitable to determine this response. A long term field scale experiment was established in 2009 where different levels of soil compaction are researched from the soil and crop point of view. The analyzed barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) plants were collected during the growing season in 2019. The effect of soil compaction was analysed by four different DNA-based markers corresponding to miRNA sequences of dehydratation stress-responsive barley miRNAs (hvu-miR156, and hvu-miR408) and nutrition-sensitive markers (hvu-miR399 and hvu-miR827), within the leaf, stem and root tissues of barley plants. Our preliminary data support hypotheses that plant genome response was tissue-specific due to significant induction of the biomarkers to dehydratation and nutrition stress. The most affected part of the plant by dehydration, were roots and lack of nutrient supply was most pronounced on leaves.

Highlights

Compaction is regarded as one of the main causes of soil degradation and it is addressed in the proposed European Soil Framework Directive (Brussels European Commission, 2006)
Soil compaction results from vehicular traffic, which causes an increase in soil strength (Chancellor and Schmidt, 1962)
Estimates for Slovakia suggest that approximately 600,000 ha of arable land are affected by compaction, which results in yields of winter cereal crops being reduced by up to 10% to 20% on average compared with achievable yields in central Europe in most years

Summary

Introduction

Compaction is regarded as one of the main causes of soil degradation and it is addressed in the proposed European Soil Framework Directive (Brussels European Commission, 2006). Soil compaction results from vehicular traffic, which causes an increase in soil strength (Chancellor and Schmidt, 1962). This restricts root development and penetration into the soil, which reduces water and nutrient uptake by the plant, and translates into reduced crop yield (Unger and Kaspar, 1994; Lipiec and Hatano, 2003). Several studies (Canarache et al, 1974; Schäfer-Landefeld et al 2004; Vero et al, 2014) have shown that traffic-induced compaction can cause reductions in soil porosity of up to 70% or greater, which occurs primarily in the larger drainage pores, with significant disruption in pores connectivity (Berisso et al, 2012). Annual application of axle load reduces seedling emergence, grain yield, soil water storage and crop water used efficiency (Radford et al, 2001)

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