Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/1495
Appears in Collections:Biological and Environmental Sciences Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Structural differences between bulk and rhizosphere soil
Author(s): Whalley, W Richard
Riseley, B
Leeds-Harrison, Peter B
Bird, Nigel R A
Leech, Penny K
Adderley, W Paul
Contact Email: w.p.adderley@stir.ac.uk
Keywords: Soil Micromorphology
Roots
Barley
Image analysis
Soil micromorphology
Social sciences Research
Issue Date: Jun-2005
Date Deposited: 30-Jul-2009
Citation: Whalley WR, Riseley B, Leeds-Harrison PB, Bird NRA, Leech PK & Adderley WP (2005) Structural differences between bulk and rhizosphere soil. European Journal of Soil Science, 56 (3), pp. 353-360. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2389.2004.00670.x
Abstract: The physical characteristics of the soil at the root–soil interface are crucial because they determine both physical aspects of root function such as water and nutrient uptake and the microbial activity that is most relevant to root growth. Because of this we have studied how root activity modifies the structure and water retention characteristic of soil adjacent to the root for maize, wheat and barley. These plants were grown in pots for a 6-week growth period, then the soil adjacent to the root (rhizosphere soil) and bulk soil aggregates were harvested. These soil aggregates were then saturated and equilibrated at matric potentials between ~600 kPa and saturation, and the water retention characteristics were measured. From subsamples of these aggregates, thin sections were made and the porosity and pore-size distributions were studied with image analysis. Both image analysis and estimates of aggregated density showed that the rhizosphere soil and bulk soil had similar porosities. Growing different plants had a small but significant effect on the porosity of the soil aggregates. Image analysis showed that for all the plant species the structure of the rhizosphere soil was different to that of the bulk soil. The rhizosphere soil contained more larger pores. For maize and barley, water retention characteristics indicated that the rhizosphere soil tended to be drier at a given matric potential than bulk soil. This effect was particularly marked at greater matric potentials. The difference between the water retention characteristics of the bulk and rhizosphere soil for wheat was small. We compare the water retention characteristics with the data on pore-size distribution from image analysis. We suggest that differences in wetting angle and pore connectivity might partly explain the differences in water retention characteristic that we observed. The impact of differences between the water retention properties of the rhizosphere and bulk soil is discussed in terms of the likely impact on root growth.
DOI Link: 10.1111/j.1365-2389.2004.00670.x
Rights: The publisher does not allow this work to be made publicly available in this Repository. Please use the Request a Copy feature at the foot of the Repository record to request a copy directly from the author; you can only request a copy if you wish to use this work for your own research or private study.
Licence URL(s): http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/under-embargo-all-rights-reserved

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Whalley_rhizosphere_EJSS2005.pdfFulltext - Published Version131.9 kBAdobe PDFUnder Embargo until 2075-06-14    Request a copy

Note: If any of the files in this item are currently embargoed, you can request a copy directly from the author by clicking the padlock icon above. However, this facility is dependent on the depositor still being contactable at their original email address.



This item is protected by original copyright



Items in the Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

The metadata of the records in the Repository are available under the CC0 public domain dedication: No Rights Reserved https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

If you believe that any material held in STORRE infringes copyright, please contact library@stir.ac.uk providing details and we will remove the Work from public display in STORRE and investigate your claim.