Biochar addition to soil has been suggested as a promising strategy to increase soil carbon storage with important side\uffe2\uff80\uff90effects on soil fertility and crop productivity. Understanding the effect of biochar on soil respiration partitioning into rhizosphere\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived (Fr) and soil organic carbon\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived (Fsoc) components and on plant root dynamics and microbial activity is a crucial issue in the prediction of the impact of biochar on soil organic carbon and nutrient cycles. Within this framework, an experiment was carried out in an apple (Malus domestica Bork) orchard located in the experimental farm of the Bologna University (Italy). In spring 2009, 10\uffe2\uff80\uff89t of biochar per hectare were incorporated into the surface 20\uffe2\uff80\uff90cm soil layer by soil ploughing. The trenching method was used in order to partition total soil respiration (Fs) into Fr and Fsoc components in both biochar\uffe2\uff80\uff90treated and control soil. Soil respiration measurements were performed from June 2009 to March 2011. To study root dynamics, polycarbonate boxes were built and buried into the soil. Soil profile pictures were collected fortnightly with a CCD sensor scanner inserted in the boxes and analysed with the WinRHIZO Tron MF software. Biochar addition increased Fsoc and reduced Fr, even if the root length intensity (La) increased in biochar\uffe2\uff80\uff90treated soils relative to that in the control. A decrease in root metabolic activity was postulated to explain these contrasting results.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "biochar", " soil respiration", " root growth", " apple", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "3. Good health"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12095"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/European%20Journal%20of%20Soil%20Science", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/ejss.12095", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/ejss.12095", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/ejss.12095"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-10-02T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1093/jxb/erad421", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-29T16:18:11Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-10-26", "title": "Location: root architecture structures rhizosphere microbial associations", "description": "AbstractRoot architectural phenotypes are promising targets for crop breeding, but root architectural effects on microbial associations in agricultural fields are not well understood. Architecture determines the location of microbial associations within root systems, which, when integrated with soil vertical gradients, determines the functions and the metabolic capability of rhizosphere microbial communities. We argue that variation in root architecture in crops has important implications for root exudation, microbial recruitment and function, and the decomposition and fate of root tissues and exudates. Recent research has shown that the root microbiome changes along root axes and among root classes, that root tips have a unique microbiome, and that root exudates change within the root system depending on soil physicochemical conditions. Although fresh exudates are produced in larger amounts in root tips, the rhizosphere of mature root segments also plays a role in influencing soil vertical gradients. We argue that more research is needed to understand specific root phenotypes that structure microbial associations and discuss candidate root phenotypes that may determine the location of microbial hotspots within root systems with relevance to agricultural systems.During salt stress, the root system architecture of a plant is important for survival. Different accessions ofArabidopsis thalianahave adopted different strategies in remodeling their root architecture during salt stress. Salt induces a multiphase growth response in roots, consisting of a stop phase, quiescent phase, recovery phase and eventually a new level of homeostasis. We explored natural variation in the length of and growth rate during these phases in both main and lateral roots and find that some accessions lack the quiescent phase. Using mathematical models and correlation-based network, allowed us to correlate dynamic traits to overall root architecture and discover that both the main root growth rate during homeostasis and lateral root appearance are the strongest determinants of overall root architecture. In addition, this approach revealed a trade-off between investing in main or lateral root length during salt stress. By studying natural variation in high-resolution temporal root growth using mathematical modeling, we gained new insights in the interactions between dynamic root growth traits and we identified key traits that modulate overall root architecture during salt stress.
Summary statementBy studying natural variation in salt-induced root growth phases inArabidopsis, we show that main root growth rate during homeostasis and lateral root appearance contribute most to root architecture and we reveal a trade-off between investing in main and lateral root growth during salt stress.
Acclimation of root growth is vital for plants to survive salt stress. Halophytes are great examples of plants that thrive even under severe salinity, but their salt tolerance mechanisms, especially those mediated by root responses, are still largely unknown.
We compared root growth responses of the halophyteSchrenkiella parvulawith its glycophytic relative speciesArabidopsis thalianaunder salt stress and performed transcriptomic analysis ofS.\uffc2\uffa0parvularoots to identify possible gene regulatory networks underlying their physiological responses.
Schrenkiella parvularoots do not avoid salt and experience less growth inhibition under salt stress. Salt\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced abscisic acid levels were higher inS.\uffc2\uffa0parvularoots compared with Arabidopsis. Root transcriptomic analysis ofS.\uffc2\uffa0parvularevealed the induction of sugar transporters and genes regulating cell expansion and suberization under salt stress.14C\uffe2\uff80\uff90labeled carbon partitioning analyses showed thatS.\uffc2\uffa0parvulacontinued allocating carbon to roots from shoots under salt stress while carbon barely allocated to Arabidopsis roots. Further physiological investigation revealed thatS.\uffc2\uffa0parvularoots maintained root cell expansion and enhanced suberization under severe salt stress.
In summary, roots ofS.\uffc2\uffa0parvuladeploy multiple physiological and developmental adjustments under salt stress to maintain growth, providing new avenues to improve salt tolerance of plants using root\uffe2\uff80\uff90specific strategies.
Maize root growth is negatively affected by compacted layers in the surface (e.g. agricultural traffic) and subsoil layers (e.g. claypans). Both kinds of soil mechanical impedances often coexist in maize fields, but the combined effects on root growth have seldom been studied. Soil physical properties and maize root abundance were determined in three different soils of the Rolling Pampa of Argentina, in conventionally-tilled (CT) and zero-tilled (ZT) fields cultivated with maize. In the soil with a light Bt horizon (loamy Typic Argiudoll, Chivilcoy site), induced plough pans were detected in CT plots at a depth of 0-0.12 m through significant increases in bulk density (1.15 to 1.27 Mg m-3) and cone (tip angle of 60 \uffc2\uffba) penetrometer resistance (7.18 to 9.37 MPa in summer from ZT to CT, respectively). This caused a reduction in maize root abundance of 40-80 % in CT compared to ZT plots below the induced pans. Two of the studied soils had hard-structured Bt horizons (clay pans), but in only one of them (silty clay loam Abruptic Argiudoll, Villa L\uffc3\uffada site) the expected penetrometer resistance increases (up to 9 MPa) were observed with depth. In the other clay pan soil (silty clay loam Vertic Argiudoll, P\uffc3\uffa9rez Mill\uffc3\uffa1n site), penetrometer resistance did not increase with depth but reached 14.5 MPa at 0.075 and 0.2 m depth in CT and ZT plots, respectively. However, maize root abundance was stratified in the first 0.2 m at the Villa L\uffc3\uffada and P\uffc3\uffa9rez Mill\uffc3\uffa1n sites. There, the hard Bt horizons did not represent an absolute but a relative mechanical impedance to maize roots, by the observed root clumping through desiccation cracks.", "keywords": ["soil compaction", "plantio direto", "plantio convencional", "root growth", "ra\u00edzes", "conventional tillage", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "zero tillage", "camadas compactadas"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Taboada, Miguel Angel, Alvarez, Carina Rosa,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1590/s0100-06832008000200031"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Revista%20Brasileira%20de%20Ci%C3%AAncia%20do%20Solo", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1590/s0100-06832008000200031", "name": "item", "description": "10.1590/s0100-06832008000200031", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1590/s0100-06832008000200031"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2008-04-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.2136/sssaj2006.0069", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-29T16:19:58Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2007-06-30", "description": "We resampled one of the earliest replicated experimental sites used to investigate the impacts of native tropical tree species on soil properties, to examine longer term effects to 1\uffe2\uff80\uff90m depth. The mono\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominant stands, established in abandoned pasture in 1988 at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica, contained six species, including one exotic, Pinus patula ssp. tecunumanii (Eguiluz & J.P. Perry) Styles, and five native species: Pentaclethra macroloba (Willd.) Ktze (N2\uffe2\uff80\uff90fixing); Hyeronima alchorneoides Allemao; Virola koschnyi Warb.; Vochysia ferruginea Mart.; and Vochysia guatemalensis J.D. Smith. Soil organic carbon (SOC) differed significantly among species in the surface (0\uffe2\uff80\uff9315\uffe2\uff80\uff90cm) layer, ranging from 44.5 to 55.1 g kg\uffe2\uff88\uff921, compared with 46.6 and 50.3 g kg\uffe2\uff88\uff921 in abandoned pasture and mature forest, respectively. The change in surface SOC over 15 yr ranged from \uffe2\uff88\uff920.03 to 0.66 Mg C ha\uffe2\uff88\uff921 yr\uffe2\uff88\uff921 The species differed in the quantity and chemical composition of their detrital production. Soil organic C was significantly correlated with fine\uffe2\uff80\uff90root growth, but not with aboveground detrital inputs. Soil organic C increased with potential C mineralization on a grams of C basis, indicating that species influenced both the quality and quantity of SOC. Contrary to expectations, SOC declined with increasing fine\uffe2\uff80\uff90root lignin concentrations, indicating that lignin\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived C did not dominate refractory SOC pools. We hypothesize that differences among species in the capacity to increase SOC stocks involved fine\uffe2\uff80\uff90root traits that promoted soil microbial turnover and, thus, greater production of recalcitrant, microbial\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived C fractions.
", "keywords": ["soil organic carbon", "580", "Ecology and Evolutionary Biology", "Organic Chemistry", "Natural Resources Management and Policy", "lignin", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Forest Biology", "tropical tree", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "630", "fine-root growth"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2006.0069"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Soil%20Science%20Society%20of%20America%20Journal", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.2136/sssaj2006.0069", "name": "item", "description": "10.2136/sssaj2006.0069", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.2136/sssaj2006.0069"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2007-07-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.3389/fpls.2023.1095790", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-29T16:20:25Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-06-05", "title": "Cultivar-dependent differences in tuber growth cause increased soil resistance in potato fields", "description": "Since soil compaction of potato fields delays shoot emergence and decreases total yield, the causes and effects of this compaction need to be better understood. In a controlled environment trial with young (before tuber initiation) plants, roots of cv. Inca Bella (a phureja group cultivar) were more sensitive to increased soil resistance (3.0 MPa) than cv. Maris Piper (a tuberosum group cultivar). Such variation was hypothesized to cause yield differences in two field trials, in which compaction treatments were applied after tuber planting. Trial 1 increased initial soil resistance from 0.15 MPa to 0.3 MPa. By the end of the growing season, soil resistance increased three-fold in the upper 20\uffc2\uffa0cm of the soil, but resistance in Maris Piper plots was up to twice that of Inca Bella plots. Maris Piper yield was 60% higher than Inca Bella and independent of soil compaction treatment, whilst compacted soil reduced Inca Bella yield by 30%. Trial 2 increased initial soil resistance from 0.2 MPa to 1.0 MPa. Soil resistance in the compacted treatments increased to similar, cultivar-dependent resistances as trial 1. Maris Piper yield was 12% higher than Inca Bella, but cultivar variation in yield response to compacted soil did not occur. Soil water content, root growth and tuber growth were measured to determine whether these factors could explain cultivar differences in soil resistance. Soil water content was similar between cultivars, thus did not cause soil resistance to vary between cultivars. Root density was insufficient to cause observed increases soil resistance. Finally, differences in soil resistance between cultivars became significant during tuber initiation, and became more pronounced until harvest. Increased tuber biomass volume (yield) of Maris Piper increased estimated mean soil density (and thus soil resistance) more than Inca Bella. This increase seems to depend on initial compaction, as soil resistance did not significantly increase in uncompacted soil. While increased soil resistance caused cultivar-dependent restriction of root density of young plants that was consistent with cultivar variation in yield, tuber growth likely caused cultivar-dependent increases in soil resistance in field trials, which may have further limited Inca Bella yield.
Acclimation of root growth is vital for plants to survive salt stress. Halophytes are great examples of plants that thrive even under severe salinity, but their salt tolerance mechanisms, especially those mediated by root responses, are still largely unknown.
We compared root growth responses of the halophyte Schrenkiella parvula with its glycophytic relative species Arabidopsis thaliana under salt stress and performed transcriptomic analysis of S.\uffc2\uffa0parvula roots to identify possible gene regulatory networks underlying their physiological responses.
Schrenkiella parvula roots do not avoid salt and experience less growth inhibition under salt stress. Salt\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced abscisic acid levels were higher in S.\uffc2\uffa0parvula roots compared with Arabidopsis. Root transcriptomic analysis of S.\uffc2\uffa0parvula revealed the induction of sugar transporters and genes regulating cell expansion and suberization under salt stress. 14 C\uffe2\uff80\uff90labeled carbon partitioning analyses showed that S.\uffc2\uffa0parvula continued allocating carbon to roots from shoots under salt stress while carbon barely allocated to Arabidopsis roots. Further physiological investigation revealed that S.\uffc2\uffa0parvula roots maintained root cell expansion and enhanced suberization under severe salt stress.
In summary, roots of S.\uffc2\uffa0parvula deploy multiple physiological and developmental adjustments under salt stress to maintain growth, providing new avenues to improve salt tolerance of plants using root\uffe2\uff80\uff90specific strategies.
Root architectural phenotypes are promising targets for crop breeding, but root architectural effects on microbial associations in agricultural fields are not well understood. Architecture determines the location of microbial associations within root systems, which, when integrated with soil vertical gradients, determines the functions and the metabolic capability of rhizosphere microbial communities. We argue that variation in root architecture in crops has important implications for root exudation, microbial recruitment and function, and the decomposition and fate of root tissues and exudates. Recent research has shown that the root microbiome changes along root axes and among root classes, that root tips have a unique microbiome, and that root exudates change within the root system depending on soil physicochemical conditions. Although fresh exudates are produced in larger amounts in root tips, the rhizosphere of mature root segments also plays a role in influencing soil vertical gradients. We argue that more research is needed to understand specific root phenotypes that structure microbial associations and discuss candidate root phenotypes that may determine the location of microbial hotspots within root systems with relevance to agricultural systems.During salt stress, the root system architecture of a plant is important for survival. Different accessions ofArabidopsis thalianahave adopted different strategies in remodeling their root architecture during salt stress. Salt induces a multiphase growth response in roots, consisting of a stop phase, quiescent phase, recovery phase and eventually a new level of homeostasis. We explored natural variation in the length of and growth rate during these phases in both main and lateral roots and find that some accessions lack the quiescent phase. Using mathematical models and correlation-based network, allowed us to correlate dynamic traits to overall root architecture and discover that both the main root growth rate during homeostasis and lateral root appearance are the strongest determinants of overall root architecture. In addition, this approach revealed a trade-off between investing in main or lateral root length during salt stress. By studying natural variation in high-resolution temporal root growth using mathematical modeling, we gained new insights in the interactions between dynamic root growth traits and we identified key traits that modulate overall root architecture during salt stress.Summary statementBy studying natural variation in salt-induced root growth phases inArabidopsis, we show that main root growth rate during homeostasis and lateral root appearance contribute most to root architecture and we reveal a trade-off between investing in main and lateral root growth during salt stress.Since soil compaction of potato fields delays shoot emergence and decreases total yield, the causes and effects of this compaction need to be better understood. In a controlled environment trial with young (before tuber initiation) plants, roots of cv. Inca Bella (a phureja group cultivar) were more sensitive to increased soil resistance (3.0 MPa) than cv. Maris Piper (a tuberosum group cultivar). Such variation was hypothesized to cause yield differences in two field trials, in which compaction treatments were applied after tuber planting. Trial 1 increased initial soil resistance from 0.15 MPa to 0.3 MPa. By the end of the growing season, soil resistance increased three-fold in the upper 20\uffc2\uffa0cm of the soil, but resistance in Maris Piper plots was up to twice that of Inca Bella plots. Maris Piper yield was 60% higher than Inca Bella and independent of soil compaction treatment, whilst compacted soil reduced Inca Bella yield by 30%. Trial 2 increased initial soil resistance from 0.2 MPa to 1.0 MPa. Soil resistance in the compacted treatments increased to similar, cultivar-dependent resistances as trial 1. Maris Piper yield was 12% higher than Inca Bella, but cultivar variation in yield response to compacted soil did not occur. Soil water content, root growth and tuber growth were measured to determine whether these factors could explain cultivar differences in soil resistance. Soil water content was similar between cultivars, thus did not cause soil resistance to vary between cultivars. Root density was insufficient to cause observed increases soil resistance. Finally, differences in soil resistance between cultivars became significant during tuber initiation, and became more pronounced until harvest. Increased tuber biomass volume (yield) of Maris Piper increased estimated mean soil density (and thus soil resistance) more than Inca Bella. This increase seems to depend on initial compaction, as soil resistance did not significantly increase in uncompacted soil. While increased soil resistance caused cultivar-dependent restriction of root density of young plants that was consistent with cultivar variation in yield, tuber growth likely caused cultivar-dependent increases in soil resistance in field trials, which may have further limited Inca Bella yield.