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    Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Aslam, M.M., Karanja, J.K., Dodd, I.C., Waseem, M. & Weifeng, X. (2022) Rhizosheath: An adaptive root trait to improve plant tolerance to phosphorus and water deficits? Plant, Cell & Environment, 45, 2861– 2874. doi: doi.org/10.1111/pce.14395 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pce.14395 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

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Rhizosheath: An adaptive root trait to improve plant tolerance to phosphorus and water deficits?

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
  • Mehtab Muhammad Aslam
  • Joseph K. Karanja
  • Ian C. Dodd
  • Muhammad Waseem
  • Xu Weifeng
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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>31/10/2022
<mark>Journal</mark>Plant, Cell and Environment
Issue number10
Volume45
Number of pages14
Pages (from-to)2861-2874
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date25/07/22
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Drought and nutrient limitations adversely affect crop yields, with below-ground traits enhancing crop production in these resource-poor environments. This review explores the interacting biological, chemical and physical factors that determine rhizosheath (soil adhering to the root system) development, and its influence on plant water uptake and phosphorus acquisition in dry soils. Identification of quantitative trait loci for rhizosheath development indicate it is genetically determined, but the microbial community also directly (polysaccharide exudation) and indirectly (altered root hair development) affect its extent. Plants with longer and denser root hairs had greater rhizosheath development and increased P uptake efficiency. Moreover, enhanced rhizosheath formation maintains contact at the root-soil interface thereby assisting water uptake from drying soil, consequently improving plant survival in droughted environments. Nevertheless, it can be difficult to determine if rhizosheath development is a cause or consequence of improved plant adaptation to dry and nutrient-depleted soils. Does rhizosheath development directly enhance plant water and phosphorus use, or do other tolerance mechanisms allow plants to invest more resources in rhizosheath development? Much more work is required on the interacting genetic, physical, biochemical and microbial mechanisms that determine rhizosheath development, to demonstrate that selection for rhizosheath development is a viable crop improvement strategy.

Bibliographic note

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Aslam, M.M., Karanja, J.K., Dodd, I.C., Waseem, M. & Weifeng, X. (2022) Rhizosheath: An adaptive root trait to improve plant tolerance to phosphorus and water deficits? Plant, Cell & Environment, 45, 2861– 2874. doi: doi.org/10.1111/pce.14395 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pce.14395 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.