The spatial distribution of rhizosphere microbial activities under drought: water availability is more important than root‐hair‐controlled exudation
2022 | journal article. A publication with affiliation to the University of Göttingen.
Jump to: Cite & Linked | Documents & Media | Details | Version history
Cite this publication
The spatial distribution of rhizosphere microbial activities under drought: water availability is more important than root‐hair‐controlled exudation
Zhang, X.; Bilyera, N.; Fan, L.; Duddek, P.; Ahmed, M. A.; Carminati, A. & Kaestner, A. et al. (2022)
New Phytologist, art. nph.18409. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18409
Documents & Media
Details
- Authors
- Zhang, Xuechen; Bilyera, Nataliya; Fan, Lichao; Duddek, Patrick; Ahmed, Mutez A.; Carminati, Andrea ; Kaestner, Anders; Dippold, Michaela A. ; Spielvogel, Sandra; Razavi, Bahar S.
- Abstract
- Root hairs and soil water content are crucial in controlling the release and diffusion of root exudates and shaping profiles of biochemical properties in the rhizosphere. But whether root hairs can offset the negative impacts of drought on microbial activity remains unknown. Soil zymography, 14C imaging and neutron radiography were combined to identify how root hairs and soil moisture affect rhizosphere biochemical properties. To achieve this, we cultivated two maize genotypes (wild-type and root-hair-defective rth3 mutant) under ambient and drought conditions. Root hairs and optimal soil moisture increased hotspot area, rhizosphere extent and kinetic parameters (Vmax and Km) of β-glucosidase activities. Drought enlarged the rhizosphere extent of root exudates and water content. Colocalization analysis showed that enzymatic hotspots were more colocalized with root exudate hotspots under optimal moisture, whereas they showed higher dependency on water hotspots when soil water and carbon were scarce. We conclude that root hairs are essential in adapting rhizosphere properties under drought to maintain plant nutrition when a continuous mass flow of water transporting nutrients to the root is interrupted. In the rhizosphere, soil water was more important than root exudates for hydrolytic enzyme activities under water and carbon colimitation.
- Issue Date
- 2022
- Journal
- New Phytologist
- Organization
- Abteilung Ökopedologie der gemäßigten Zonen ; Abteilung Biogeochemie der Agrarökosysteme
- ISSN
- 0028-646X
- eISSN
- 1469-8137
- Language
- English
- Sponsor
- China Scholarship Council https://doi.org/10.13039/501100004543
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001659