Journal Article FZJ-2019-03008

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Modeling the Impact of Biopores on Root Growth and Root Water Uptake

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2019
GeoScienceWorld Alexandria, Va.

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Abstract: Roots are known to use biopores as preferential growth pathways to overcome hard soil layers and access subsoil water resources. This study evaluates root–biopore interactions at the root-system scale under different soil physical and environmental conditions using a mechanistic simulation model and extensive experimental field data. In a field experiment, spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was grown on silt loam with a large biopore density. X-ray computed tomography scans of soil columns from the field site were used to provide a realistic biopore network as input for the three-dimensional numerical R-SWMS model, which was then applied to simulate root architecture as well as water flow in the root–biopore–soil continuum. The model was calibrated against observed root length densities in both the bulk soil and biopores by optimizing root growth model input parameters. By implementing known interactions between root growth and soil penetration resistance into our model, we could simulate root systems whose response to biopores in the soil corresponded well to experimental observations described in the literature, such as increased total root length and increased rooting depth. For all considered soil physical (soil texture and bulk density) and environmental conditions (years of varying dryness), we found biopores to substantially mitigate transpiration deficits in times of drought by allowing roots to take up water from wetter and deeper soil layers. This was even the case when assuming reduced root water uptake in biopores due to limited root–soil contact. The beneficial impact of biopores on root water uptake was larger for more compact and less conductive soils.

Classification:

Contributing Institute(s):
  1. Agrosphäre (IBG-3)
Research Program(s):
  1. 255 - Terrestrial Systems: From Observation to Prediction (POF3-255) (POF3-255)

Appears in the scientific report 2019
Database coverage:
Medline ; Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 ; OpenAccess ; Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List ; Current Contents - Agriculture, Biology and Environmental Sciences ; IF < 5 ; JCR ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Web of Science Core Collection
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Open Access

 Record created 2019-05-16, last modified 2022-09-30