Abstract

Root water uptake is an essential process for terrestrial plants that strongly affects the spatiotemporal distribution of water in vegetated soil. Fast neutron tomography is a recently established non-invasive imaging technique capable to capture the 3D architecture of root systems in situ and even allows for tracking of three-dimensional water flow in soil and roots. We present an in vivo analysis of local water uptake and transport by roots of soil-grown maize plants—for the first time measured in a three-dimensional time-resolved manner. Using deuterated water as tracer in infiltration experiments, we visualized soil imbibition, local root uptake, and tracked the transport of deuterated water throughout the fibrous root system for a day and night situation. This revealed significant differences in water transport between different root types. The primary root was the preferred water transport path in the 13-days-old plants while seminal roots of comparable size and length contributed little to plant water supply. The results underline the unique potential of fast neutron tomography to provide time-resolved 3D in vivo information on the water uptake and transport dynamics of plant root systems, thus contributing to a better understanding of the complex interactions of plant, soil and water.

Highlights

  • Root water uptake is an essential process for terrestrial plants that strongly affects the spatiotemporal distribution of water in vegetated soil

  • Water uptake and transport through individual roots of three 13-days-old maize plants were monitored during infiltration experiments with deuterated water under day- and night-time conditions

  • The presented tracer experiment demonstrates that 3D water uptake and subsequent transport in fibrous root systems of young maize can be analysed in vivo in a time-resolved manner using fast 3D neutron tomography

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Summary

Introduction

Root water uptake is an essential process for terrestrial plants that strongly affects the spatiotemporal distribution of water in vegetated soil. Using deuterated water as tracer in infiltration experiments, we visualized soil imbibition, local root uptake, and tracked the transport of deuterated water throughout the fibrous root system for a day and night situation. This revealed significant differences in water transport between different root types. The results underline the unique potential of fast neutron tomography to provide timeresolved 3D in vivo information on the water uptake and transport dynamics of plant root systems, contributing to a better understanding of the complex interactions of plant, soil and water. The aim of the present study was to analyse water uptake and transport in the root system of young maize plants for the first time measured non-invasively in vivo in three dimensions

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