Root structure syndromes of four families of monocots in the Middle Urals

The present article tests the following general assumption:plant taxa with different specializations towards mycorrhizal interactions should have different root syndromes.Roots of 61 species common in boreal zone were studied:16 species of Poaceae,24 species of Cyperaceae,14 species of Orchidaceae,and 7 species of Iridaceae.Using a fixed material of 5 individuals of each species,the following was determined:number of orders of branching roots;transverse dimensions of root,stele and cortex;number of primary xylem vessels and exodermis layers;length of root hairs;abundance of mycorrhiza.Species of each family had well-defined syndromes.Roots of Orchidaceae and Iridaceae were thick with a large stele and developed exodermis.Orchidaceae had no branching roots and had long root hairs.In Iridaceae,roots were branched,and root hairs were short.Roots of Poaceae and Cyperaceae were thin with a relatively thin stele.Root hairs were short in Poaceae and long in Cyperaceae.Our finding that root syndromes of four families of monocots differed is a new and unexpected discovery.The high specificity of root syndromes in Cyperaceae,Iridaceae,Poaceae,and Orchidaceae indicates that species of these families use different strategies to obtain water and soil nutrients.

Root structure of slope protection plants in a high-grade highway

Root length and root length density of Lespedeza bicolor,Amorpha fruticosa,and Sea buckthorn were investigated in a country highway-TongSan highway（Tongjiang to Sanya） in Heilongjiang Province,China.The root lengths were divided into five root orders according to Pregizter sequence classification method.Results show that sea buckthorn roots are dominated by coarse roots in the horizontal growth,while L.bicolor has a large proportion of fine roots in vertical conical growth and A.fruticosa is in depth growth.Root length density of L.bicolor in all the root sequences is higher than that of sea buckthorn and A.fruticosa.On the basis of the root structure,it is inferred that L.bicolor roots mainly absorb the surface soil moisture for its normal growth;in contrast,A.fruticosa has good uptake ability to deep soil water.The root structure of sea buckthorn implies that it has a strong drought resistance.

The root structures of 21 aquatic plants in a macrophyte-dominated lake in China

Aims Aquatic plants play an important role in freshwater ecosystems.Previous works have largely focused on the functional significance of plant above ground parts,with much less attention on the root structures of aquatic plants.In this study,we divided 21 aquatic plants(including five introduced plants)into multiple plant groups(different life forms,monocot/eudicot and introduced/native)with the goal of addressing two questions:(i)what root structures do aquatic plants exhibit,and(ii)are there differences among these plant groups?Methods Twenty-one aquatic plants belonging to four life forms(free-float-ing,emergent,floating-leaved and submerged)were collected at the near flowering stage from a typical macrophyte-dominated lake in the yangtze River Basin,China.The following root topological parameters were quantified:altitude(a),path length(pe),magnitude(M),mean topological length(b),topological index(TI)and normed indices qa and qb.Important Findings The root topological indices TI,qa and qb for the 21 aquatic plants were 0.724±0.013,0.290±0.031 and 0.152±0.024(means±S.E.),respectively,revealing a general pattern of dichotomous branching,except for the aquatic root of Myriophyllum aquati-cum(Vell.)Verdc.,which displays herringbone branching.All three topological indices were significantly lower for monocots(TI=0.700±0.130,qa=0.191±0.149 and qb=0.086±0.236)than eudicots(TI=0.752±0.206,qa=0.405±0.569 and qb=0.229±0.393),indicating that the roots of monocots are typi-cally more dichotomous-like than those of eudicots.Among the four life forms,the three topological indices for emergent plants(TI=0.832±0.006,qa=0.616±0.018 and qb=0.381±0.014)were significantly higher than those of the other three life forms.Overall,there was no difference between the topological indices of introduced and native aquatic plants,but the introduced species M.aquaticum and Alternanthera philoxeroides(Mart.)Griseb.had both aquatic and edaphic roots as well as unusual functions,which may help explain their strong viability.

Effects of Different Nitrogen Fertilizer Rates on Soluble Sugar,Starch and Root Tissue Structure of the Peach Trees

[Objective] The research aimed to provide theoretical basis for the cultivation and production of peach.[Method] The three-year-old seedling peach tree was used as the materials,and NH4NO3 was used as the experimental nitrogen fertilizer.Three nitrogen levels,0,3,6 g per pot respectively were set to study the effects of different nitrogen fertilizer on the contents of soluble sugar,starch and internal structure of the root of the peaches.[Result] The contents of soluble sugar of roots and leaves increased with the increase of nitrogen fertilizer level,and the level of 6 g per pot was the highest,which showed extreme differences between the level of 3 g per pot and the control.However,starch contents showed opposite results,which decreased as the level of nitrogen fertilizer increased.Compared with the 3 g per pot level of nitrogen fertilizer and the control,the internal structure of root applied with nitrogen fertilizer of 6 g per pot level had larger fibrovascularcylinder,advanced vascular bundle,small-spaced thin-walled cells,smooth and full cells with smooth cell wall.[Conclusion]Appropriate nitrogen levels can accelerate the accumulation of soluble sugar and the growth of root tissue structure.

Localization and Dynamic Change of Saikosaponin in Root of Bupleurum chinense

Anatomical, histochemical and phytochemical methods were used to investigate the structure, the localization and content changes of total saikosaponin and saikosaponin-a of the roots of Bupleurum chinense DC. at different developmental stages. Results showed that saikosaponin was mainly distributed in pericycle and primary phloem in the young root; but in the mature root, it was mainly distributed in vascular cambium and secondary phloem. During the whole growth period from the pre-blossom, blossom, fruit, and fruit mature periods until the pre-withering period, it was in the fruit mature period that both the total saikosaponin content and the saikosaponin-a content reached the highest level. So the last 20 d of October was considered as the right collecting season for the drug of B. chinense. In addition, the quality of 1-year-old drug was better than that of 2-year-old drug due to its higher saikosaponin content. On the other hand, judging from the external characteristics of the drug, the one with an acerose taproot and more lateral roots was of better quality. The results offered theoretical bases for selecting medicinal material of high quality and determining the most appropriate harvesting stage and part of B. chinense.

Algorithm based on local breeding of growing modes for convection-allowing ensemble forecasting

We propose a method based on the local breeding of growing modes(LBGM) considering strong local weather characteristics for convection-allowing ensemble forecasting. The impact radius was introduced in the breeding of growing modes to develop the LBGM method. In the local breeding process, the ratio between the root mean square error(RMSE) of local space forecast at each grid point and that of the initial full-field forecast is computed to rescale perturbations. Preliminary evaluations of the method based on a nature run were performed in terms of three aspects: perturbation structure, spread,and the RMSE of the forecast. The experimental results confirm that the local adaptability of perturbation schemes improves after rescaling by the LBGM method. For perturbation physical variables and some near-surface meteorological elements, the LBGM method could increase the spread and reduce the RMSE of forecast,improving the performance of the ensemble forecast system.In addition, different from those existing methods of global orthogonalization approach, this new initial-condition perturbation method takes into full consideration the local characteristics of the convective-scale weather system, thus making convectionallowing ensemble forecast more accurate.