Root-Soil Inter Actions & Adaptation Strategies of Plants in Response to Soil Water Availability

We study the coupled action of water uptake and root development of maize in potting soil under greenhouse conditions. To this end, we apply subsurface irrigation strategies that are constant over weeks. We perform synchronous realtime measurements of the co-evolving soil moisture fields and root distributions. Will constant irrigation regimes eventually lead to constant root distributions and soil moisture profiles? In this contribution we report on the preliminary results of a study on the soil-root system behavior and underlying feedback loops. Understanding of the feedback loops between the soil moisture distribution and root development opens new pathways for boosting natural adaptation and climate resilience of plants. We compare two soil-root-systems that differ in irrigation depth; one with a constant irrigation depth and one with a step wise increasing irrigation depth. We also compare a bare soil system without roots.