Complete root specimen of plants grown in soil-filled root box: sampling, measuring, and staining method.

Abstract

Background Detailed datasets containing root system and its architecture in soil are required to improve understanding of resource capture by roots. However, most of the root study methods have paid little attention to make and preserve whole root specimens. This study introduces root system sampling equipment that makes the entire root specimen with minimum impairment and without displacement of the spatial arrangement of the root system in root boxes. The objectives are to assess: whether the equipment can rapidly sample the entire root system; whether root surface area is measurable from a scanned digital image of the root specimen; and whether staining of the entire root specimens would provide multidimensional visual information on the interaction between soil and physiological function of root system architecture (RSA). For validation, we examined the root response of two soybean cultivars to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) inoculation and the effect of waterlogging stress on the physiological activity of buckwheat RSA. Results The root boxes allowed soybean and buckwheat plants to grow uniformly across the replications. Both species showed significant differences between cultivars and/or among treatments in shoot and root traits. The equipment enabled to sample the whole-root specimens of soybean and buckwheat, where the tips of the fine roots were alive (diameter Conclusions The present method realized: fast and accurate production of the whole root specimen and precise calculation of the specimens' root surface area. Moreover, staining of the root specimens enabled analyzing the interaction between soil and physiological function of RSA. The evaluation of root traits, using our methods, will contribute to developing agronomic management and breeding program for sustainable food production.

Plant phenotyping relevance

根系全体のサンプリング装置、画像スキャンによる根表面積測定、染色法が研究の中心であり、根系形態・生理状態の表現型取得を技術的に検証している。

Code and data availability

The paper's root phenotyping datasets (scanned root specimen images, WinRHIZO measurements, TTC staining data) are only available from the corresponding author on request; no public data or code repository is provided. Supplementary files contain figures and a movie, not the underlying datasets or analysis code.

No evidence-backed public reproduction asset is currently recorded.