Representative corn root anatomy image, obtained using laser ablation tomography, showing air space formation in living tissue. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of ...

The spatial distribution of root length density (RLD) is important for water and nutrient uptake by plants and biomass allocation in the soil. Experimental root assessment is, however, mostly based on ...

Maize plays a critical role in ensuring global food security, but understanding the root systems that support its growth remains a challenge due to their underground nature. Traditional methods such ...

The ability of roots to penetrate hard soil is important for crop productivity but specific root phenes contributing to this ability are poorly understood. Root penetrability and biomechanical ...

Maize roots secrete certain chemicals that affect the quality of soil. In some fields, this effect increases yields of wheat planted subsequent to maize in the same soil by more than 4%. While the ...

The effect of mutual shading on the root/shoot ratio and on the number of nodal roots of maize was studied. Plants of two varieties (Dea and LG2281) were grown in individual pots of 9 L, at three ...

"We were talking about the cool stuff that he had done with ancient maize roots that were preserved in these very dry caves, and I hadn't even known about them," Lynch recalled. "We decided to analyze ...