Morphological effect of increased penetration resistance

Optimizing rootzones for crop cultivation must investigate both chemical and physical aspects of the rootzone media. This project investigates the physical properties of rootzone media, specifically root penetration resistance or rootzone compactness/density, on plant shoot elongation. In general, increasing this property decreases shoot elongation. We want to investigate how this decrease in leaf expansion is related to cell division, cell expansion and leaf water potential.

Used skills

• Plant growth measurements
• Climate chamber experiments
• Microscopy
• Data analysis
• Data visualization
• General laboratory skills

Interested in doing a BSc or MSc thesis at HPP? Please contact Katharina Hanika or Kim Vanderwolk via the HPP office (office.hpp@wur.nl).