Rice accounts for around 20% of the calories consumed by humans. Essential nutrients like zinc (Zn) are crucial for rice growth and for populations relying on rice as a staple food. No well-established study method exists. As a result, we a lack a clear picture of the chemical forms of zinc in rice grain. Furthermore, we do not understand the effects of widespread and variable zinc deficiency in soils on the Zn speciation, and to a lesser extent, its concentration, in grain.

Plant Ni uptake in aboveground biomass exceeding concentrations of 1000 μg g in dry weight is defined as Ni hyperaccumulation. Whether hyperaccumulators are capable of mobilizing larger Ni pools than non-accumulators is still debated and rhizosphere processes are still largely unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate rhizosphere processes and possible Ni mobilization by the Ni hyperaccumulator and to test Ni uptake in relation to a soil Ni gradient.

Changes in water availability during the growing season are becoming more frequent due to climate change. Our study aimed to compare the fine-root acclimation capacity (plasticity) of six temperate tree species aged six years and exposed to high or low growing season soil water availability over five years.

Belowground interspecific plant facilitation is supposed to play a key role in enabling species co-existence in hyperdiverse ecosystems in extremely nutrient-poor, semi-arid habitats, such as woodlands in southwestern-Australia. Manganese (Mn) is readily mobilised by cluster root activity in most soils and accumulates in mature leaves of native Australian plant species without significant remobilisation during leaf senescence. We hypothesised that neighbouring shrubs are facilitated in terms of Mn uptake depending on distance to surrounding cluster root-forming trees.

Partitioning the measured net ecosystem carbon dioxide (CO) exchange into gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration remains a challenge, which scientists try to tackle by using the properties of the trace gas carbonyl sulfide (COS). Its similar pathway into and within the leaf makes it a potential photosynthesis proxy. The application of COS as an effective proxy depends, among other things, on a robust inventory of potential COS sinks and sources within ecosystems. While the soil received some attention during the last couple of years, the role of plant roots is mostly unknown. In our study, we investigated the effects of live roots on the soil COS exchange.

Phytolith studies are still facing numerous challenges regarding the available notions of Si absorption from soil and its deposition in aerial organs. This study shows how plant water availability affects the biosilica content and silicon isotopic composition of phytoliths in sorghum ().

The home-field advantage (HFA) hypothesis predicts faster decomposition of plant residues in soil compared to soils with different plants (), and has been demonstrated in forest and grassland ecosystems. It remains unclear if this legacy effect applies to crop residue decomposition in arable crop rotations. Such knowledge could improve our understanding of decomposition dynamics in arable soils and may allow optimisation of crop residue amendments in arable systems by cleverly combining crop-residue rotations with crop rotations to increase the amount of residue-derived C persisting in soil.

Tree species worldwide suffer from extended periods of water limitation. These conditions not only affect the growth and vitality of trees but also feed back on the cycling of carbon (C) at the plant-soil interface. However, the impact of progressing water loss from soils on the transfer of assimilated C belowground remains unresolved.

The European larch is a pioneer tree and a valuable economic resource in subalpine ecosystems, thus playing crucial roles to ecosystem services and human activities. However, their ectomycorrhizal fungal community remains unknown in high altitudinal natural habitats. Here, we explore the mycobiont diversity of var. between naturally rejuvenated and adult trees, compare ectomycorrhizal colonization patterns in geographically disjunct areas within the Alps of South Tyrol, Italy, characterized by distinct climatic conditions, and explore turnover rates across various seasons.

The increasing occurrence of extreme drought events under climate change alters the composition and functioning of plant communities worldwide. Drought-induced changes in plant-soil feedback (PSF), reciprocal effects on fitness between plants and their associated soil microbial communities, are one mechanism through which these changes in vegetation occur, but they remain difficult to predict. Because of their direct link to rhizosphere microbial communities, we expect root traits to predict drought-induced PSF shifts.

Ginsenosides are triterpene saponins produced by ginseng (.). Ginsenosides are secreted into the soil during ginseng growth and are mildly anti-fungal and autotoxic. While an ecological role for ginsenosides in maintenance of the sparse density growth habit of wild ginseng populations can be inferred, the consequence of ginsenoside accumulation in densely populated commercial ginseng gardens remains unknown. The potential for residual ginsenosides in former ginseng gardens to contribute to ginseng replant disease (GRD), a condition in which a new ginseng crop cannot be successfully cultivated in a garden used for ginseng cultivation in the past, has been suggested. However, the extent to which ginsenosides accumulate in ginseng garden soil and persist beyond harvest is poorly documented.

Forests across the world are subject to disturbance via wind, wildfire, and pest and disease outbreaks. Yet we still have an incomplete understanding of how these stressors impact forest biota-particularly the soil microbes, which govern forest carbon and nutrient cycling.

In crop breeding, 'trait development' is the improvement of specific characteristics, typically using landraces as a source for introduction into elite lines. Trait development exists upstream of 'breeding,' which generates new varieties to be grown by farmers. While both are active areas of research, trait development is often overlooked, despite being a critical step in linking upstream research with breeding. The field of root biology provides many excellent examples of upstream research that requires further trait development to generate new varieties.

The root cortex in Poaceae is a diverse, dynamic, and dispensable composite layer of tissue. Early in plant growth, the cortex in Poaceae roots primarily consists of parenchyma cells. However, as the root continues to develop, while encountering varying environmental conditions, the cortex undergoes substantial structural and functional changes. These modifications involve either cell wall modifications or programmed cell death, to form tissues including the endodermis, exodermis, sclerenchyma, and aerenchyma, or to result in cortical senescence. The dynamic spatial architecture of these tissues plays a crucial role in storage, microbial interactions, physical protection, biosynthesis of metabolites, and the radial movement of water, nutrients, and gases, and therefore, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance.

Climate change is happening and causing severe impact on the sustainability of agroecosystems. We argue that many of the abiotic stresses associated with climate change will be most acutely perceived by the plant at the root-soil interface and are likely to be mitigated at this globally important interface. In this review we will focus on the direct impacts of climate change, temperature, drought and pCO, on roots and rhizospheres.

Understanding the fate and residence time of organic matter added to soils, and its effect on native soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralisation is key for developing efficient SOC sequestration strategies. Here, the effect of litter quality, particularly the carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio, on the dynamics of particulate (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) were studied.

Peat is used as a major ingredient of growing media in horticulture. Peat extracted from bogs can be acidic and low in nutrient availability and is therefore mixed with liming agents, nutrients, surfactants, perlite and so on. This study aims to estimate the rates at which raw peat and the modified peat ('growing media') decompose to release carbon dioxide (CO), to estimate the release of carbon (C) from liming agents and to estimate how peat biogeochemistry is changed.

Suboptimal nitrogen availability is a primary constraint for crop production in low-input agroecosystems, while nitrogen fertilization is a primary contributor to the energy, economic, and environmental costs of crop production in high-input agroecosystems. In this article we consider avenues to develop crops with improved nitrogen capture and reduced requirement for nitrogen fertilizer.

represent a typical and important tree species growing in European subalpine and alpine habitats. The ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal communities associated to this tree under natural conditions are largely unknown.

This study aimed at elucidating divergent effects of two dominant plant functional types (PFTs) in tundra heath, dwarf shrubs and mosses, on soil microbial processes and soil carbon (C) and nutrient availability, and thereby to enhance our understanding of the complex interactions between PFTs, soil microbes and soil functioning.

Deadwood plays a vital role in forest ecosystems, influencing soil biodiversity through nutrient enrichment and niche partitioning. While the effects of specific attributes of deadwood logs on soil biodiversity are well studied, it remains unclear whether and how the volume of deadwood affects soil biodiversity at the scale of forest stands. Additionally, the effects on soil biodiversity may differ between gradually accumulated deadwood and large volumes resulting from sudden stand-level disturbance events. In this study, we aim to assess such effects on alpha and beta diversity of soil microbes and microfauna.