AI Article Synopsis
- Scientists think we can use special plant traits, like how plants interact with soil and their roots, to make healthier soils that hold more carbon and nutrients.
- Modern crops still have these traits, but there's room to make them even better since they can be different between plant types and affected by their environment.
- Future studies should look at how choosing plants with these special traits affects both the plants and the soil, not just in labs but also in real-life farming situations.
Article Abstract
Great potential exists to harness plant traits at the root-soil interface, mainly rhizodeposition and root hairs, to 'build' soils with better structure that can trap more carbon and resources, resist climate stresses, and promote a healthy microbiome. These traits appear to have been preserved in modern crop varieties, but scope exists to improve them further because they vary considerably between genotypes and respond to environmental conditions. From emerging evidence, rhizodeposition can act as a disperser, aggregator, and/or hydrogel in soil, and root hairs expand rhizosheath size. Future research should explore impacts of selecting these traits on plants and soils concurrently, expanding from model plants to commercial genotypes, and observing whether impacts currently limited to glasshouse studies occur in the field.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2022.01.010 | DOI Listing |
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