Root water uptake of biofuel crops revealed by coupled electrical resistivity and soil water content measurements

Traits and selection strategies to improve root systems and water uptake in water-limited wheat crops.

Wheat yields globally will depend increasingly on good management to conserve rainfall and new varieties that use water efficiently for grain production. Here we propose an approach for developing new varieties to make better use of deep stored water. We focus on water-limited wheat production in the summer-dominant rainfall regions of India and Australia, but the approach is generally applicab...

Dynamic modeling of root water uptake using soil moisture data

In this work a dynamic model of water uptake from plants growing in naturally vegetated areas subjected to a rainfall and evaporation time series is described. The model results are compared and contrasted with popular pre-existing models. Also, the effects of the uptake pattern on the movement of water across multiple soil layers are also analyzed. The results showed that contrary to common mo...

Root Growth and Water Uptake by Maize Plants in Drying Soil

Sharp, R. E and Da vies, W. J. 1985. Root growth and water uptake by maize plants in drying soil.— J. exp. Bot. 36: 1441-1456. The influence of soil drying on maize (Zea mays L.) root distribution and use of soil water was examined using plants growing in the greenhouse in soil columns. The roots of plants which were watered well throughout the 18 d experimental period penetrated the soil profi...

The Influence of Soil Water Content, Calcite Content, and Temperature on Bulk Electrical Conductivity

Modeling water uptake by a root system growing in a fixed soil volume

The water uptake by roots of plants is examined for an ideal situation, with an approximation that resembles plants growing in pots, meaning that the total soil volume is fixed. We propose a coupled water uptake-root growth model. A one-dimensional model for water flux and water uptake by a root system growing uniformly distributed in the soil is presented, and the Van Genuchten model for the t...