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An evaluation of the minirhizotron technique for estimating root distribution in potatoes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

C. J. Parker ,
M. K. V. Carr ,
N. J. Jarvis ,
B. O. Puplampu  and
V. H. Lee
C. J. Parker
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Water Management, Silsoe College, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4DT, UK
M. K. V. Carr
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Water Management, Silsoe College, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4DT, UK
N. J. Jarvis
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Water Management, Silsoe College, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4DT, UK
B. O. Puplampu
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Water Management, Silsoe College, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4DT, UK
V. H. Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Water Management, Silsoe College, Silsoe, Bedford MK45 4DT, UK
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Summary

The minirhizotron technique was evaluated for estimating root length density in potatoes (Solanum tuberosum ‘Record’) by comparing observations in angled 45° glass tubes with corresponding root length densities obtained by (a) destructive core sampling, and from (b) counts of root tips on the soil face of excavated trenches. Measurements were made in a field experiment in Bedfordshire, UK, in 1985, with shallow and deep cultivation as variables, and in a glasshouse trial.

Only at depths below 0·3 m did root lengths observed with minirhizotrons reflect at all closely those estimated from core sampling and even then there was a tendency to overestimate root density. In the surface cultivated layers, where 80–90% of the total root length was present, results from minirhizotrons were unreliable, probably because of poor soil–tube contact and, in soils which shrink on drying, preferential root growth at the interface between the soil and the glass.

Minirhizotrons can provide a realistic estimate of the rate of root growth of potatoes with depth over time when compared with maximum depths of water extraction, but appear to be unreliable for providing a quantitative measure of total root length density.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 116 , Issue 3 , June 1991 , pp. 341 - 350
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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