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. 2023 Jan 4:13:1023088.
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1023088. eCollection 2022.

Root pruning improves maize water-use efficiency by root water absorption

Minfei Yan  1   2 , Cong Zhang  1   2 , Hongbing Li  1 , Li Zhang  3 , Yuanyuan Ren  4 , Yinglong Chen  1   5 , Huanjie Cai  6 , Suiqi Zhang  1
Affiliations

Root pruning improves maize water-use efficiency by root water absorption

Minfei Yan et al. Front Plant Sci. .

Abstract

Root systems are an important component of plants that impact crop water-use efficiency (WUE) and yield. This study examined the effects of root pruning on maize yield, WUE, and water uptake under pot and hydroponic conditions. The pot experiment showed that root pruning significantly decreased root/shoot ratio. Both small root pruning (cut off about 1/5 of the root system, RP1) and large root pruning (cut off about 1/3 of the root system, RP2) improved WUE and root hydraulic conductivity (Lpr) in the residual root system. Compared with that in the un-cut control, at the jointing stage, RP1 and RP2 increased Lpr by 43.9% and 31.5% under well-watered conditions and 27.4% and 19.8% under drought stress, respectively. RP1 increased grain yield by 12.9% compared with that in the control under well-watered conditions, whereas both pruning treatments did not exhibit a significant effect on yield under drought stress. The hydroponic experiment demonstrated that root pruning did not reduce leaf water potential but increased residual root hydraulic conductivity by 26.2% at 48 h after root pruning under well-watered conditions. The foregoing responses may be explained by the upregulation of plasma membrane intrinsic protein gene and increases in abscisic acid and jasmonic acid in roots. Increased auxin and salicylic acid contributed to the compensated lateral root growth. In conclusion, root pruning improved WUE in maize by root water uptake.

Keywords: abscisic acid; jasmonic acid; leaf water potential; root hydraulic conductivity; root pruning.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The root pruning method.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects of root pruning on root hydraulic conductivity (Lpr) in the pot experiment. WW-R0 is no root pruning under well-watered conditions; WW-RP1 is small root pruning under well-watered conditions; WW-RP2 is large root pruning under well-watered conditions; DS-R0 is no root pruning under drought stress; DS-RP1 is small root pruning under drought stress; DS-RP2 is large root pruning under drought stress. Samples were measured at jointing stage (V6), anthesis (V12), and milk stage (R3). Values are means ± standard error (n=6). The asterisks indicate significant differences by independent t-tests under the same moisture conditions (* P< 0.05; ** P< 0.01).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effects of root pruning on Lpr in the hydroponic experiment. WW-R0 is no root pruning under well-watered conditions; WW-RP is removal of 1/3 of the root system under well-watered conditions; PEG-R0 is no root pruning under PEG stress; PEG-RP is PEG stress plus removal of 1/3 of the root system at 3 h, 12 h, 24 h, and 48 h after treatment. Values are means ± standard error (n = 6). The asterisks indicate significant differences by independent t-tests under the same moisture conditions (** P< 0.01).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effects of root pruning on leaf water potential in the pot experiment (A) and in the hydroponic experiment (B). Measurements were made at jointing stage in the pot experiment and 48 h after root pruning in the hydroponic experiment. Data for five biological replicates were analysed by ANOVA. Different letters indicate significant differences from each other (P< 0.05). The treatment abbreviations are defined in Figures 2 , 3 .
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effects of root pruning on root absorption surface (A), root active absorption area (B), and root active absorption area ratio (C) in the hydroponic experiment. Data for five biological replicates were analysed by ANOVA. Different letters indicate significant differences from each other (P< 0.05). The treatment abbreviations are defined in Figure 3 .
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effects of root pruning on ZmPIP expression. ZmPIP1:1 (A), ZmPIP1:5 (B), ZmPIP2:2 (C), and ZmPIP2:5 (D) measured by RT-qPCR at 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h after root pruning. Data for three biological replicates were analysed by ANOVA. The treatment abbreviations are defined in Figure 3 . The asterisks indicate significant differences by independent t-tests under the same moisture conditions (* P< 0.05; ** P< 0.01).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Levels of abscisic acid (ABA) (A), jasmonic acid, (JA) (B), auxin (IAA) (C) and salicylic acid (SA) (D) in roots changed at 3 h and 24 h after root pruning in the hydroponic experiment. Data for three biological replicates were analysed by ANOVA. Different letters indicate statistically significant differences from each other (P< 0.05). FW, fresh weight. The treatment abbreviations are defined in Figure 3 .
Figure 8
Figure 8
Effects of DIECA (100 mM; JA inhibitor) and fluridone (10 mM; ABA inhibitor) on root Lpr at 48 h. Data for three biological replicates were analysed by ANOVA. Different letters indicate statistically significant differences from each other (P< 0.05). FW, fresh weight.
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