Journal article
Cereal root growth in a sandy soil with a hardsetting subsurface horizon was restricted only under dry conditions
Plant and Soil, Vol.517, pp.1655-1672
2025
Abstract
Background and aims
High soil strength that develops in sandy soils through compaction and hardsetting processes can severely restrict root growth, reducing access to limited resources. However, it is unclear how variation in soil moisture within and between seasons impacts the role of hardsetting in these soils, and the subsequent restrictions to rooting depth and ultimately crop production.
Methods
To investigate root growth in hardsetting soil under controlled moisture conditions, soil columns were constructed with a subsurface compacted soil layer that hardset upon drying. A ripping treatment was applied to this soil in half of the pots, and wheat (Triticum aestivum cv. Scepter) was grown in these soil columns under three contrasting watering regimes for 42 days. Soil strength was measured with a lab-based penetrometer prior to dismantling the soil columns to assess root distribution.
Results
The compacted soil layer hardset at a water content close to wilting point. Only where dry conditions were maintained did the compacted layer provide a physical barrier to root growth accessing deeper soil water. In these soils, ripping resulted in a significant increase in deep root growth and a 39% increase in shoot biomass. Temporal hardsetting, induced by a wet-dry watering cycle did not significantly alter the distribution of roots.
Conclusions
Hardsetting restricts root access to deeper water only under prolonged dry conditions, indicating that its field impact is strongly moderated by moisture dynamics. This interaction likely explains variable crop responses to deep ripping in sandy, hardsetting soils.
Details
- Title
- Cereal root growth in a sandy soil with a hardsetting subsurface horizon was restricted only under dry conditions
- Authors
- Stephen Lang (Corresponding Author) - The University of AdelaideTimothy Cavagnaro - Flinders UniversityDavid Chittleborough - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringEhsan Tavakkoli - The University of AdelaideNigel Wilhelm - South Australian Research and Development Institute
- Publication details
- Plant and Soil, Vol.517, pp.1655-1672
- Publisher
- Springer Dordrecht
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11104-025-07946-x
- ISSN
- 1573-5036
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Sustainability Research Cluster
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991175024802621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
25 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Agronomy
- Plant Sciences
- Soil Science
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: SDGs from InCites