Using coloured roots to study root interaction and competition in intercropped legumes and non-legumes

作     者：Giacomo Tosti Kristian Thorup-Kristensen 

作者机构：Department of Agriculture and Environmental SciencesUniversity of PerugiaBorgo XX Giugno 7406121 PerugiaItaly Department of Agriculture and EcologyFaculty of Life SciencesUniversity of CopenhagenHøjbakkegaards Alle 13DK-2630 TaastrupDenmark 

出 版 物：《Journal of Plant Ecology》 (植物生态学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2010年第3卷第3期

页      面：191-199页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 071001[理学-植物学] 0830[工学-环境科学与工程（可授工学、理学、农学学位）] 07[理学] 0901[农学-作物学] 0902[农学-园艺学] 0713[理学-生态学] 

主　　题：red beet root competition root interaction root proliferation rhizotron 

摘      要：Aims Root interactions between neighbour plants represent a fundamental aspect of the competitive dynamics in pure stand and mixed cropping *** comprehension of such phenomena places big methodological challenges,and still needs *** objectives of this work were(i)to test if a species with coloured roots can be used to examine the interaction in a legume-non-legume intercropping system;(ii)to verify the importance of initial root growth on the successive root development ofmixture component plants;(iii)to test if the root interaction in the shallowlayers has consequences for deep root growth and(iv)to compare the effect of intraspecific and interspecific competition on root development and biomass *** A detailed study on root growth and interaction was carried out using rhizotron tubes where two legume species were grown in pure stands or were intercropped with red beet,a variety of Beta vulgaris *** clear red *** the rhizotrons,the three species were grown either without competitors,with two plants of the same species to measure intraspecific competition or with one legume and one red beet plant to study interspecific *** use of mixtures where one component has clearly coloured roots,together with several scalar measurements of root depth and proliferation,allowed the measurement of the root system of each species when grown in the *** findings The use of rhizotron tubes coupled with species with coloured roots represented a valuable method to study the belowground interaction in mixed cropping *** initial root growth was a very important feature for the subsequent dominance of a species and it was not related to seed *** root growth was also important because the root interactions in the shallower soil layers were found to influence the root growth in deeper *** root system of the red beet showed much faster and deeper growth than that of the legumes,and made red beet