Background Suboptimal water and nutrient availability are primary constraints in global
agriculture. Root anatomy plays key roles in soil resource acquisition. In this article we …

Greater exploitation of subsoil resources by annual crops would afford multiple benefits,
including greater water and N acquisition in most agroecosystems, and greater …

Background: Rice is the main staple food for the global population and drought is one of the
limited factor in rice production. In this research, progeny of a cross between an adapted US …

Root phenotypic plasticity has been proposed as a target for the development of more
productive crops in variable environments. However, the plasticity of root anatomical and …

I propose that reduced root development would be advantageous for drought resistance in
high-input agroecosystems. Selection regimes for crop ancestors and landraces include …

An emerging paradigm is that root traits that reduce the metabolic costs of soil exploration
improve the acquisition of limiting soil resources. Here, we test the hypothesis that reduced …

Several root anatomical phenes affect water acquisition from drying soil, and may therefore
have utility in breeding more drought-tolerant crops. Anatomical phenes that reduce the …

Crop genotypes with reduced metabolic costs of soil exploration would have improved water
and nutrient acquisition. Three strategies to achieve this goal are (1) production of the …

Background Suboptimal nitrogen availability is a primary constraint for crop production in
low-input agroecosystems, while nitrogen fertilization is a primary contributor to the energy …

Mechanical impedance limits soil exploration and resource capture by plant roots. We
examine the role of root anatomy in regulating plant adaptation to mechanical impedance …