Root traits benefitting crop production in environments with limited water and nutrient availability

Abstract

Abstract Background Breeding for advantageous root traits will play a fundamental role in improving the efficiency of water and nutrient acquisition, closing yield gaps, and underpinning the ‘Evergreen Revolution’ that must match crop production with human demand. Scope This preface provides an overview of a Special Issue of Annals of Botany on ‘Root traits benefitting crop production in environments with limited water and nutrient availability’. The first papers in the Special Issue examine how breeding for reduced shoot stature and greater harvest index during the Green Revolution affected root system architecture. It is observed that reduced plant height and root architecture are inherited independently and can be improved simultaneously to increase the acquisition and utilization of carbon, water and mineral nutrients. These insights are followed by papers examining beneficial root traits for resource acquisition in environments with limited water or nutrient availability, such as deep rooting, control of hydraulic conductivity, formation of aerenchyma, proliferation of lateral roots and root hairs, foraging of nutrient-rich patches, manipulation of rhizosphere pH and the exudation of low molecular weight organic solutes. The Special Issue concludes with papers exploring the interactions of plant roots and microorganisms, highlighting the need for plants to control the symbiotic relationships between mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobia to achieve maximal growth, and the roles of plants and microbes in the modification and development of soils.