How thirsty roots go in search of water

[Binary_Bark]

Scientists from the University of Nottingham, England and Tohoku University, Japan have helped to solve a mystery that has fascinated scientists since Charles Darwin - how plant roots sense water and change direction to find it. In a world where water for agriculture is becoming a global challenge this could lead to improved crop varieties which are better at foraging for water.
Their research - 'Root hydrotropism is controlled via a cortex-specific growth mechanism' - sheds new light on which part of the root perceives a water signal, and which tissues then change their growth to make the root change direction. Their findings have been published in Nature Plants.
Lead researcher, Dr Daniela Dietrich from the School of Biosciences at Nottingham, said: "Even when most of the root tip was removed by laser or scalpel, roots of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana still responded to a water gradient in the medium they were growing on. This showed that hydrotropism - the way in which plant roots respond to moisture content of soil - depends on perception and response in the elongation zone, a rapidly growing area of the root just behind the tip."

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-05-thirsty-roots.html#jCp

 

[Pakka]

Interesting. Reminds me of our recent visit to the Sudwala caves.

There is a wild fig tree growing on the mountain on top of the caves, which as roots shooting down into the caves, through the air, towards the stalagmites on the ground of the cave floor.

Image from google (see the strands going down)


A similar thing is at the Echo caves not far from there. This one apparently made it into Guinness for the biggest root depth.