TY  - JOUR
AU  - Koch, Axelle
AU  - Meunier, Félicien
AU  - Vanderborght, Jan
AU  - Garre, Sarah
AU  - Pohlmeier, Andreas
AU  - Javaux, Mathieu
TI  - Functional–structural root-system model validation using a soil MRI experiment
JO  - The journal of experimental botany
VL  - 70
IS  - 10
SN  - 1460-2431
CY  - Oxford
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
M1  - FZJ-2019-04577
SP  - 2797 - 2809
PY  - 2019
AB  - Functional–structural root-system models simulate the relations between root-system architectural and hydraulic properties, and the spatio-temporal distributions of water and solutes in the root zone. Such models may help identify optimal plant properties for breeding and contribute to increased water-use efficiency. However, it must first be demonstrated that they accurately reproduce the processes they intend to describe. This is challenging because the flow and transport processes towards individual roots are hard to observe. In this study, we demonstrate how this problem can be addressed by combining co-registered root and tracer distributions obtained from magnetic resonance imaging with a root-system model in an inverse modeling scheme. The main features in the tracer distributions were well reproduced by the model using realistic root hydraulic parameters. By combining the functional–structural root-system model with 4D tracer observations, we were able to quantify the water uptake distribution of a growing root system. We determined that 76% of the transpiration was extracted through 3rd-order roots. The simulations also demonstrated that accurate water uptake distribution cannot be directly derived either from observations of tracer accumulation or from water depletion. However, detailed tracer experiments combined with process-based models help decipher mechanisms underlying root water uptake.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:30799498
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000483174300016
DO  - DOI:10.1093/jxb/erz060
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/865012
ER  -