New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
Root growth media effects on root morphology and architecture in
white clover
J. R. Crush1
D. A. Care1
A. Gourdin1,2
D. R. Woodfield3
1AgResearch
Ruakura Research Centre
Private Bag 3123
Hamilton, New Zealand
2UMR INRA-INPL 1121
Agronomie et Environnement
ENSAIA, 2, Avenue de la Forêt de Haye
54500 Vandoeuvre, France
3AgResearch
Grasslands Research Centre
Private Bag 11 008
Palmerston North, New Zealand
Abstract Root morphological and architectural
parameters were recorded for Trifolium repens L. cv.
‘Grasslands Huia’, inbreds of cv. ‘Huia’ and cv. ‘Crau’, and selections
within ‘Huia’ for contrasting root morphology. The plants were grown in
sand and solution culture in a glasshouse experiment. Images of roots
were made using a flat-bed scanner and analysed using WinRhizoTM
image analysis software. Mean root topological indices of 0.95 for
solution culture and 0.93 for sand culture indicated that root media
had little effect on the herringbone pattern of white clover roots.
There were root media effects on five root architectural parameters,
all explicable as the result of roots branching more frequently in
sand. There were clover type × root media type interactions for
five root parameters. These were caused by the inbred clovers being
less responsive to a change in root medium than the other three
clovers. Differences between roots grown in sand or solution culture
were relatively small, but we recommend using sand for screening white
clover for root parameters when the physical effects of a solid medium
on roots is important.
Keywords root architecture; root media; root
morphology; sand culture; solution culture; Trifolium repens;
white clover
A04020; Received 22 March 2004; accepted 23 December 2004; Online
publication date 30 May 2005
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2005, Vol. 48:
255–263
0028–8233/05/4802–0255 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005
PDF file of entire paper: Print-quality
(417K) | screen-quality (470K)
This year's abstracts |
Journal home page |
All abstracts |
Publishing home page
