Journal
JOURNAL OF PLANT GROWTH REGULATION
Volume 21, Issue 4, Pages 315-323Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00344-003-0008-9
Keywords
roots; hydraulics; maize; porous pipe model
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The water uptake region in roots is several hundred times longer than the root diameter. The distributed nature of the uptake zone requires that the hydraulic design of roots be understood by analogy to flow through a porous pipe. Here we present results of an analytical and experimental investigation that allowed an in-depth analysis of root hydraulic properties. Measurements on nodal maize roots confirm the nonlinear distribution of water uptake predicted by the porous pipe model. The major design parameter governing the distribution of water uptake along a porous pipe is the ratio between its axial and radial hydraulic resistance. However, total flow is proportional to the pipe's overall resistance. These results suggest the existence of a tradeoff between the effective utilization of root length and the total capacity for water uptake.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available