Root systems determine the water and nutrients for photosynthesis and harvested products, underpinning agricultural productivity. We highlight 11 programs that integrated root traits into germplasm for breeding, relying on phenotyping. Progress was successful but slow. Today's phenotyping technologies will speed up root trait improvement. They combine multiple new alleles in germplasm for target environments, in parallel. Roots and shoots are detected simultaneously and nondestructively, seed to seed measures are automated, and field and laboratory technologies are increasingly linked. Available simulation models can aid all phenotyping decisions. This century will see a shift from single root traits to rhizosphere selections that can be managed dynamically on farms and a shift to phenotype-based improvement to accommodate the dynamic complexity of whole crop systems.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2019.10.015 | DOI Listing |
BMC Plant Biol
January 2025
Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, 42310, Türkiye.
Background: Innovation in crop establishment is crucial for wheat productivity in drought-prone climates. Seedling establishment, the first stage of crop productivity, relies heavily on root and coleoptile system architecture for effective soil water and nutrient acquisition, particularly in regions practicing deep planting. Root phenotyping methods that quickly determine coleoptile lengths are vital for breeding studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant Physiol Biochem
January 2025
College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310058, China. Electronic address:
Competition is ubiquitous and an important driver of tree mortality. Non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs, including soluble sugars and starch) and C-N-P stoichiometries are affected by the competitive status of trees and, in turn, physiologically determine tree growth and survival in competition. However, the physiological mechanisms behind tree mortality caused by intraspecific competition remain unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlants (Basel)
January 2025
College of Agriculture, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong 030801, China.
The mung bean ( (Linn) Wilczek.) is a major grain crop in China, but its yield is significantly impacted by weeds. However, no pre-emergence herbicides are registered for mung bean fields in the China Pesticide Information Network.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlants (Basel)
January 2025
Escuela de Ingeniería en Agronomía, Campus Tecnológico Local San Carlos, Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Alajuela 22321001, Costa Rica.
The role of a plant root system in resource acquisition is relevant to confront drought events caused by climate change. Accordingly, nursery practices like phosphorous (P) fertilization and root pruning have been shown to modify root architecture; however, their combined benefits require further investigation in Mediterranean species. We evaluated the effect of applied P concentrations (0, 15, 60, and 120 mg L P) with or without chemical (copper) root pruning (WCu, WoCu, respectively) in and on morpho-physiological and root architecture traits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlants (Basel)
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Processes, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610299, China.
Climate change has led to an increasing frequency of droughts, potentially undermining soil stability. In such a changing environment, the shallow reinforcement effect of plant roots often fails to meet expectations. This study aims to explore whether this is associated with the alteration of plant traits as a response to environmental change.
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