Jin, Kemo and Shen, Jianbo and Ashton, Rhys W. and White, Rodger P. and Dodd, Ian C. and Phillips, Andrew L. and Parry, Martin A. J. and Whalley, William R. (2015) The effect of impedance to root growth on plant architecture in wheat. Plant and Soil, 392 (1-2). pp. 323-332. ISSN 0032-079X
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
We were interested in the effect of impedance to root growth on root and shoot architecture of wheat. It is known that Rht-1 semi-dwarfing alleles decrease the degree of leaf stunting due to root impedance. We compared commercial wheat cultivars containing different Rht-1 alleles to determine whether leaf stunting caused by root impedance differed between cultivars. We investigated effects of impedance to root growth on the angular spread of roots. The wheat cultivars Avalon, Robigus and Battalion, carrying semi-dwarfing alleles of Rht-1, and cv. Cadenza, carrying the tall, wild-type allele, were grown under two levels of soil strength in a sand culture system designed to allow the mechanical impedance of the root growth environment to be adjusted independently of water and nutrient availability. Impeded roots grew more steeply than non-impeded roots: the angular spread of roots decreased from 55A degrees to 43A degrees from the vertical, but the genotypic effects were weak. Root impedance reduced leaf elongation and the number of tillers. Leaf area and total root length provided a common relationship across all genotype x treatment combinations. Leaf stunting in Cadenza was more severe. Our data support the hypothesis that the severity of leaf stunting due to root impedance is related to the Rht allele. Impeded roots had a smaller angular spread.