Agronomy Journal Grow Your Career With ASA
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Published online 1 September 1994
Published in Agron J 86:745-753 (1994)
© 1994 American Society of Agronomy
677 S. Segoe Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Klepper, B.
Right arrow Articles by Kaspar, T. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Klepper, B.
Right arrow Articles by Kaspar, T. C.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Klepper, B.
Right arrow Articles by Kaspar, T. C.

Rhizotrons: Their Development and Use in Agricultural Research

Betty Klepper* and Thomas C. Kaspar

USDA-ARS, Columbia Plateau Conservation Research Center, P.O. Box 370, Pendleton, OR 97801
, National Soil Tilth Lab., 2150 Pammel Dr., Ames, IA 50011-4420

* Corresponding author.

Rhizotrons are tools for making nondestructive, repeated observations and measurements of root systems. Primary objectives of this review are to report features of several rhizotrons and to describe the types of research that have been and will be performed in them. Rhizotrons are permanent installations, generally with transparent viewing surfaces for measurement of plant roots. Typically, these facilities have control of drainage and are well instrumented for macroscopic and microscopic observations of roots. They are excellent for getting descriptive and semiquantitative data on simultaneous changes in root and shoot systems of different cultivars or species over seasons or in response to treatments. Rhizotrons can also be designed to allow measurement of mass balances of water and nutrients within the rooting volume of a crop. Future uses of rhizotrons will include research on the root-zone behavior of soil nutrient such as NO3, detailed measurement of processes such as diffusion and mass flow of liquids and gases in soils, and development of better information on the role of soil biota in nutrient cycling and uptake. This new information will permit better definition of the role of root systems in plant growth and development.

. Presented as part of the symposium on rhizosphere research in honor of Howard M. Taylor, ASA-CSSASSSA annual meeting, Minneapolis, MN, 2 Nov. 1992; sponsored by Div. S-6, S-l, and S-7

Received for publication June 14, 1993.




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
The SCI Journals Crop Science Vadose Zone Journal
Journal of Natural Resources
and Life Sciences Education		 Soil Science Society of America Journal
Journal of Plant Registrations Journal of
Environmental Quality		 The Plant Genome
Copyright © 1994 by the American Society of Agronomy.