TY - JOUR

T1 - Unraveling root and rhizosphere traits in temperate maize landraces and modern cultivars

T2 - Implications for soil resource acquisition and drought adaptation

AU - Wild, Andreas J.

AU - Steiner, Franziska A.

AU - Kiene, Marvin

AU - Tyborski, Nicolas

AU - Tung, Shu-Yin

AU - Koehler, Tina

AU - Carminati, Andrea

AU - Eder, Barbara

AU - Groth, Jennifer

AU - Vahl, Wouter K.

AU - Wolfrum, Sebastian

AU - Lueders, Tillmann

AU - Laforsch, Christian

AU - Mueller, Carsten W.

AU - Vidal, Alix

AU - Pausch, Johanna

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors. Plant, Cell & Environment published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - A holistic understanding of plant strategies to acquire soil resources is pivotal in achieving sustainable food security. However, we lack knowledge about variety-specific root and rhizosphere traits for resource acquisition, their plasticity and adaptation to drought. We conducted a greenhouse experiment to phenotype root and rhizosphere traits (mean root diameter [Root D], specific root length [SRL], root tissue density, root nitrogen content, specific rhizosheath mass [SRM], arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi [AMF] colonization) of 16 landraces and 22 modern cultivars of temperate maize (Zea mays L.). Our results demonstrate that landraces and modern cultivars diverge in their root and rhizosphere traits. Although landraces follow a ‘do-it-yourself’ strategy with high SRLs, modern cultivars exhibit an ‘outsourcing’ strategy with increased mean Root Ds and a tendency towards increased root colonization by AMF. We further identified that SRM indicates an ‘outsourcing’ strategy. Additionally, landraces were more drought-responsive compared to modern cultivars based on multitrait response indices. We suggest that breeding leads to distinct resource acquisition strategies between temperate maize varieties. Future breeding efforts should increasingly target root and rhizosphere economics, with SRM serving as a valuable proxy for identifying varieties employing an outsourcing resource acquisition strategy.

AB - A holistic understanding of plant strategies to acquire soil resources is pivotal in achieving sustainable food security. However, we lack knowledge about variety-specific root and rhizosphere traits for resource acquisition, their plasticity and adaptation to drought. We conducted a greenhouse experiment to phenotype root and rhizosphere traits (mean root diameter [Root D], specific root length [SRL], root tissue density, root nitrogen content, specific rhizosheath mass [SRM], arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi [AMF] colonization) of 16 landraces and 22 modern cultivars of temperate maize (Zea mays L.). Our results demonstrate that landraces and modern cultivars diverge in their root and rhizosphere traits. Although landraces follow a ‘do-it-yourself’ strategy with high SRLs, modern cultivars exhibit an ‘outsourcing’ strategy with increased mean Root Ds and a tendency towards increased root colonization by AMF. We further identified that SRM indicates an ‘outsourcing’ strategy. Additionally, landraces were more drought-responsive compared to modern cultivars based on multitrait response indices. We suggest that breeding leads to distinct resource acquisition strategies between temperate maize varieties. Future breeding efforts should increasingly target root and rhizosphere economics, with SRM serving as a valuable proxy for identifying varieties employing an outsourcing resource acquisition strategy.

KW - arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

KW - Index for Adaptive Responses

KW - phenotypic plasticity

KW - rhizosheath

KW - root diameter

KW - root economics space

KW - specific root length

U2 - 10.1111/pce.14898

DO - 10.1111/pce.14898

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 38515431

AN - SCOPUS:85189102858

VL - 47

SP - 2526

EP - 2541

JO - Plant, Cell and Environment

JF - Plant, Cell and Environment

SN - 0140-7791

IS - 7

ER -