TY - JOUR

T1 - Root trait plasticity and plant nutrient acquisition in phosphorus limited soil

AU - Kumar, Amit

AU - Shahbaz, Muhammad

AU - Koirala, Manisha

AU - Blagodatskaya, Evgenia

AU - Seidel, Sabine Julia

AU - Kuzyakov, Yakov

AU - Pausch, Johanna

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Hubert Hüging and Dr. Kazem Zamanian for collecting soil from Dikopshof Wesseling station of the University of Bonn, Germany. Laboratory assistance by Karin Schmidt, Anita Kriegel, Ingrid Ostermeyer and Susann Enzmann is fully acknowledged. The authors would also like to thank Irina Kuzyakova (University of Göttingen, Göttingen) and Alex Antony (Indiana University, Bloomington) for statistical consultancy, Pascal Benard for microscopic investigations. We gratefully acknowledge the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for their scholarship award to Amit Kumar. This study was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the project PA 2377/1-1 and the field site was maintained within the BonaRes project (BOMA 03037514) of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany. The authors declare no conflict of interests and would like to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for the constructive comments and suggestions. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA

PY - 2019/12/1

Y1 - 2019/12/1

N2 - To overcome soil nutrient limitation, many plants have developed complex nutrient acquisition strategies including altering root morphology, root hair formation or colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). The interactions of these strategies and their plasticity are, however, affected by soil nutrient status throughout plant growth. Such plasticity is decisive for plant phosphorus (P) acquisition in P‐limited soils. We investigated the P acquisition strategies and their plasticity of two maize genotypes characterized by the presence or absence of root hairs. We hypothesized that in the absence of root hairs plant growth is facilitated by traits with complementary functions, e.g., by higher root mycorrhizal colonization. This dependence on complementary traits will decrease in P fertilized soils. At early growth stages, root hairs are of little benefit for nutrient uptake. Regardless of the presence or absence of root hairs, plants produced average root biomass of 0.14 g per plant and exhibited 23% root mycorrhizal colonization. At later growth stages of maize, contrasting mechanisms with functional complementarity explained similar plant biomass production under P limitation: the presence of root hairs versus higher root mycorrhizal colonization (67%) favored by increased fine root diameter in absence of root hairs. P fertilization decreased the dependence of plant on specific root traits for nutrient acquisition. Through root trait plasticity, plants can minimize trade‐offs for developing and maintaining functional traits, while increasing the benefit in terms of nutrient acquisition and plant growth. The present study highlights the plasticity of functional root traits for efficient nutrient acquisition strategies in agricultural systems with low nutrient availability.

AB - To overcome soil nutrient limitation, many plants have developed complex nutrient acquisition strategies including altering root morphology, root hair formation or colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). The interactions of these strategies and their plasticity are, however, affected by soil nutrient status throughout plant growth. Such plasticity is decisive for plant phosphorus (P) acquisition in P‐limited soils. We investigated the P acquisition strategies and their plasticity of two maize genotypes characterized by the presence or absence of root hairs. We hypothesized that in the absence of root hairs plant growth is facilitated by traits with complementary functions, e.g., by higher root mycorrhizal colonization. This dependence on complementary traits will decrease in P fertilized soils. At early growth stages, root hairs are of little benefit for nutrient uptake. Regardless of the presence or absence of root hairs, plants produced average root biomass of 0.14 g per plant and exhibited 23% root mycorrhizal colonization. At later growth stages of maize, contrasting mechanisms with functional complementarity explained similar plant biomass production under P limitation: the presence of root hairs versus higher root mycorrhizal colonization (67%) favored by increased fine root diameter in absence of root hairs. P fertilization decreased the dependence of plant on specific root traits for nutrient acquisition. Through root trait plasticity, plants can minimize trade‐offs for developing and maintaining functional traits, while increasing the benefit in terms of nutrient acquisition and plant growth. The present study highlights the plasticity of functional root traits for efficient nutrient acquisition strategies in agricultural systems with low nutrient availability.

KW - arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization

KW - nutrient acquisition

KW - root hairs

KW - root morphology

KW - roothairless3 mutant

KW - root traits

KW - Ecosystems Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073924373&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/jpln.201900322

DO - 10.1002/jpln.201900322

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 182

SP - 945

EP - 952

JO - Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science

JF - Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science

SN - 1436-8730

IS - 6

ER -