Root Scans to Document Fertilizer Response

Brigham Young University-Idaho is primarily a teaching university, with some research to support teaching efforts. In the Department of Agribusiness, Plant and Animal Science, the crop physiology class has used rhizotron boxes to monitor root growth for different crops. As part of this rhizotron work, the class has developed several treatments to see the effect of root growth on fertilizer types (N vs. P vs. K), fertilizer placement, drought, and compaction. These projects have been excellent opportunities for our students to combine both research and teaching concepts.


Justification

Brigham Young University-Idaho is primarily a teaching university, with some research to support teaching efforts. In the Department of Agribusiness, Plant and Animal Science, the crop physiology class has used rhizotron boxes to monitor root growth for different crops. As part of this rhizotron work, the class has developed several treatments to see the effect of root growth on fertilizer types (N vs. P vs. K), fertilizer placement, drought, and compaction. These projects have been excellent opportunities for our students to combine both research and teaching concepts. Our current approach to the rhizotron project has some limitations that do not allow the students to quantify or measure roots and root growth while the plants are growing in the rhizotron boxes.

A new method developed by Bill Pan at Washington State University will be used to allow students to take high resolution imagery of roots from emergence through early growth stages. The method uses flat bed scanners buried in soil bins to take images of roots as they grow. These images can be used to measure and quantify root growth under different scenarios.


Objectives

Our initial objective is to secure funds for purchasing equipment for constructing the rhizotron box apparatus used at Washington State University and then conduct classroom and undergraduate research using the rhizotron boxes.


Methodology

The rhizotron project will begin in January 2011 as part of the crop physiology class. The students will help construct the rhizotron boxes apparatus. With cooperation from Dr. Pan, the students will design an experiment to study the effects of fertilizer types and placement on plant roots of crops (e.g., wheat, alfalfa, and corn). The roots will be scanned up to multiple times per day for duration of 4 to 8 weeks after planting. The imagery will be used to determine the effect of fertilizer type and placement on the roots. The images will also be used to create time lapse video that will demonstrate root growth. The images and videos will be excellent teaching resource for plant science oriented courses and will all be shared with IPNI.