Root electrical capacitance as an indicator of wheat growth and yield in a free-air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) experiment

Abstract

Background and aims This study was the first to test the efficiency of monitoring root electrical capacitance (C_R*) non-destructively in the field to evaluate crop development under different environmental conditions.

Methods A free-air CO₂ enrichment (FACE) experiment was performed with two winter wheat cultivars, two levels (low and high) of nitrogen supply and two (ambient and elevated) of [CO₂] in three replicate plots over two years. The validity of C_R* as a proxy for root uptake activity was confirmed by tracking the ceptometer-based leaf area index (LAI).

Results Repeated C_R* measurements clearly demonstrated the seasonal dynamics in root development, with a peak at flowering, and the delayed growth in the second year caused by the unfavourable meteorological conditions. From the vegetative to flowering stages, C_R* was strongly correlated with LAI (R²: 0.897–0.962). The positive effect of higher N supply and elevated [CO₂] on crop growth was clearly indicated by the higher C_R* values, associated with increased LAI, shoot dry mass (SDM) at flowering and grain yield (GY). The maximum C_R* was closely related to GY (R²: 0.805 and 0.867) when the data were pooled across the N and CO₂ treatments and the years. Unlike C_R* and GY, SDM and LAI were significantly lower in the second year, presumably due to the enhanced root/shoot ratio induced by a severe spring drought.

Conclusions The present results convincingly demonstrated the potential of the in situ root capacitance method to assess root responses dynamically, and to predict crop GY.