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Indoor-Field: A macro-mesocosm system to study the field dynamics of phenotypic spectrum of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris. L)
  • +9
  • Limeng Xie,
  • Changhyeon Kim,
  • Sydney Page,
  • Jitrana Kengana,
  • Peter Pietrzyk,
  • Joslyn Mcklveen,
  • William Lavoy,
  • Michael Boyd,
  • Gregory Cousins,
  • Suxing Liu,
  • Marc W Van Iersel,
  • Alexander Bucksch
Limeng Xie
Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Changhyeon Kim
Department of Horticulture, University of Georgia
Sydney Page
Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of Georgia
Jitrana Kengana
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University
Peter Pietrzyk
Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia
Joslyn Mcklveen
Terry College of Business, University of Georgia
William Lavoy
Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia
Michael Boyd
Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia
Gregory Cousins
Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia
Suxing Liu
Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia
Marc W Van Iersel
Department of Horticulture, University of Georgia
Alexander Bucksch
Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Georgia

Abstract

Root studies in controlled environments are typically conducted either in rhizotrons, pots, or small scale mesocosm systems, like PVC tubes or root boxes. These systems have two limitations for translating results to crop roots grown in fields. First, the size and shape of containers change the root phenotype when plants are in the mature stage. Second, often only one plant is planted per container without interaction among neighboring plants. Therefore, the root architecture observed in these isolated environments has low predictability for the root architecture in a community setting in fields. To better translate the root traits observed in a controlled environment to field observations, we developed a macro-mesocosm system (5.5 m (W) x 6.7 m (L) x 0.7 m (H)) to mimic the real field soil conditions in a greenhouse. We also installed 64 capacitance soil moisture sensors to monitor the whole macro-mesocosm system at 15.24 cm and 38.10 cm soil depths in real-time. We evaluated the phenotypic spectrum in one common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris. L) genotype, SEQ7, in a time series experiment. We grew SEQ7 for two, six, nine, and twelve weeks under sensor-controlled water-stressed and well-watered irrigation regimes. SEQ7 showed four different root architecture types across developmental stages. These four root architecture types are consistent with previous field observation. This novel macro-mesocosm system will be a great setup to study the field dynamics of the root phenotypic spectrum in a controlled environment.
03 Oct 2022Submitted to NAPPN 2023 Abstracts
04 Oct 2022Published in NAPPN 2023 Abstracts