Dataset Information

Determining the effects of nitrogen rate on cotton root growth and distribution with soil cores and minirhizotrons.

ABSTRACT: Cotton root growth can be affected by different nitrogen fertilizer rates. The objective of the present study was to quantify the effects of nitrogen fertilization rate on cotton root growth and distribution using minirhizotron and soil coring methods. A secondary objective was to evaluate the minirhizotron method as a tool for determining nitrogen application rates using the root distribution as an index. This study was conducted on a Bt cotton cultivar (Jimian 958) under four nitrogen fertilization rates, i.e., 0, 120, 240 and 480 kg ha(-1) (control, low, moderate and high levels, respectively), in the Yellow River basin of China from 2013-2015. The sampling process, details of each method as well as the root morphology and root distribution were measured. The operational processes, time and labor needed for the soil core method were all greater than those for the minirhizotron method. The total root length density and the length density in most soil layers, especially in the upper soil layers, first increased but then decreased as nitrogen fertilization increased, and the same trend was observed for both methods. Compared with N0, the total root length density under moderate nitrogen fertilization by the soil coring method increased by more than 94.82%, in 2014 and 61.11% in 2015; while by the minirhizotron method the corresponding values were 28.24% in 2014 and 57.47%, in 2015. Most roots were distributed in the shallow soil layers (0-60 cm) in each method. However, the root distribution with the soil coring method (>73.11%) was greater than that with the minirhizotron method (>47.07%). The correlations between the root morphology indexes of shallow soil depth measured using the two methods were generally significant, with correlative coefficients greater than 0.334. We concluded that the minirhizotron method could be used for cotton root analysis and most cotton roots distributed in upper soil layers (0-60cm). In addition, a moderate nitrogen rate (240 kg ha-1) could increase root growth, especially in the shallow soil layers. The differences observed with the minirhizotron method were clearer than those observed with the soil coring method.

SUBMITTER: Chen J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5947893 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Determining the effects of nitrogen rate on cotton root growth and distribution with soil cores and minirhizotrons.

Chen Jing J Liu Liantao L Wang Zhanbiao Z Sun Hongchun H Zhang Yongjiang Y Lu Zhanyuan Z Li Cundong C

PloS one 20180511 5

Cotton root growth can be affected by different nitrogen fertilizer rates. The objective of the present study was to quantify the effects of nitrogen fertilization rate on cotton root growth and distribution using minirhizotron and soil coring methods. A secondary objective was to evaluate the minirhizotron method as a tool for determining nitrogen application rates using the root distribution as an index. This study was conducted on a Bt cotton cultivar (Jimian 958) under four nitrogen fertiliz ...[more]

PMID: 29750816

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:Nitrogen (N), the primary limiting factor for plant growth and yield in agriculture, has a patchy distribution in soils due to fertilizer application or decomposing organic matter. Studies in solution culture over-simplify the complex soil environment where microbial competition and spatial and temporal heterogeneity challenge roots' ability to acquire adequate amounts of nutrients required for plant growth. In this study, various ammonium treatments (as 15N) were applied to a discrete volume of soil containing tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) roots to simulate encounters with a localized enriched patch of soil. Transcriptome analysis was used to identify genes differentially expressed in roots 53 hrs after treatment. RESULTS:The ammonium treatments resulted in significantly higher concentrations of both ammonium and nitrate in the patch soil. The plant roots and shoots exhibited increased levels of 15N over time, indicating a sustained response to the enriched environment. Root transcriptome analysis identified 585 genes differentially regulated 53 hrs after the treatments. Nitrogen metabolism and cell growth genes were induced by the high ammonium (65 mug NH4+-N g-1 soil), while stress response genes were repressed. The complex regulation of specific transporters following the ammonium pulse reflects a simultaneous and synergistic response to rapidly changing concentrations of both forms of inorganic N in the soil patch. Transcriptional analysis of the phosphate transporters demonstrates cross-talk between N and phosphate uptake pathways and suggests that roots increase phosphate uptake via the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in response to N. CONCLUSION:This work enhances our understanding of root function by providing a snapshot of the response of the tomato root transcriptome to a pulse of ammonium in a complex soil environment. This response includes an important role for the mycorrhizal symbiosis in the utilization of an N patch.

Project description:Mulching and nitrogen are critical drivers of crop production for smallholders of the Loess Plateau in China. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of mulching and nitrogen fertilizer on the soil water content, soil nitrate-N content and vertical distribution in maize root-zone. The experiment was conducted over two consecutive years and used randomly assigned field plots with three replicates. The six treatments consisted of no fertilizer without plastic film (CK), plastic film mulching with no basal fertilizer and no top dressing (MN0), basal fertilizer with no top dressing and no mulching (BN1), plastic film mulching and basal fertilizer with no top dressing (MN1), basal fertilizer and top dressing with no mulching (BN2) and plastic film mulching with basal fertilizer and top dressing (MN2). In the top soil layers, the soil water content was a little high in the plastic film mulching than that without mulching. The mean soil water content from 0 to 40 cm without mulching were 3.35% lower than those measured in the corresponding mulching treatments in 31 days after sowing in 2012. The mulching treatment increased the soil nitrate-N content was observed in the 0-40-cm soil layers. The results indicate that high contents of soil nitrate-N were mainly distributed at 0-20-cm at 31 days after sowing in 2012, and the soil nitrate-N concentration in the MN2 treatment was 1.58 times higher than that did not receive fertilizer. The MN2 treatment greatly increased the soil nitrate-N content in the upper layer of soil (0-40-cm), and the mean soil nitrate-N content was increased nearly 50 mg kg-1 at 105 days after sowing compared with CK treatment in 2012. The soil nitrate-N leaching amount in MN1 treatment was 28.61% and 39.14% lower than BN1 treatment, and the mulch effect attained to 42.55% and 65.27% in MN2 lower than BN2 in both years. The yield increased with an increase in the basal fertilizer, top dressing and plastic film mulching, and the grain yield increase ranged from 31.41% to 83.61% in two consecutive years. The MN1 and MN2 treatment is recommended because it increased the grain yield and improved the fertilizer use efficiency, compared with the no-mulching treatment.

Dataset Information

Determining the effects of nitrogen rate on cotton root growth and distribution with soil cores and minirhizotrons.

Publications

Determining the effects of nitrogen rate on cotton root growth and distribution with soil cores and minirhizotrons.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets