IMPORTANT ROOT TRAITS

• Roots are underground vegetative organs of plants.

• Which control growth and development of the entire plant.

• It is related to plant species and cultivars within the species,

and can be modified by environmental factors.
• Roots absorb the nutrients and water used by plants in
photosynthesis, the most fundamental process of plant growth
and development (Lynch, 1995).

• Further, roots provide mechanical support to plants from

seedling through maturity and development.
• Subterranean portions have been neglected because of the
difficulty for access, the time-consuming effort involved in
preparing root for study.
• “you can not manage what you can not measure”
• So root architecture needs to be quantified and/or measured for
the effective utilization of inputs such as water and nutrients
for better plant and root growth.
• So the study of plant roots is one of the most promising but
least explored areas of areas of research related to plant
growth.
• Parameters commonly used to express root growth and
distributions are
Number
Weight
Volume
length
and number of tips
(Bohm, 1979).
Root length:
• Root length was measured from the cut end to the tip of the
longest rootlet by using a centimetre scale and expressed in
cm.
Root volume

• Root volume was determined in cubic centimetre by water

displacement method.

• Roots were immersed in water in a 1000 ml measuring

cylinder after removing from the soil and cleaning thoroughly.

• The displaced volume of the water was taken as the volume of

the roots.
Root dry weight:

• Roots collected were dried moisture free in a hot air oven at

80ºC for 48 hours (till attaining constant weight).

• Then the dry weights were recorded in grams by using an

electronic balance.

• Root weight is a good parameter for characterizing total mass

of roots in soil.
Root density:

• Root density is another important parameter from the point of

root activity study.

• Root length per unit soil volume has been defined as root
density.

• Root density = Total root length (cm) / soil volume (cm3)

where roots have been collected in
Root shoot ratio:

• The shoot weight was recorded separately after drying the

shoot portion in hot air oven at 80ºC for 48 hours till it reaches
constant weight.

• Root shoot ratio was calculated as follows

Root shoot ratio = Root dry weight / Shoot dry weight

Scanning and Image analysis using RHIZO system:
• The scanner of RHIZO system had two light sources, one
below the scanner glass called flat bed or reflective and one
above it (in the scanner cover) called transparency unit (TPU).
• For root morphological measurements TPU lighting system
was used for scanning.
• The light rays from TPU passed through the sample and then
to the camera sensor below the scanner glass.
• The resulting image was sharp and clear with well-contrasted.