Root system architecture of paddy in potassium acquisition / Muhammad Nur Amin Mohd Jailani and Siti Sarah Jumali

Potassium (K) is an essential nutrient for plant growth. However, there are only little information the effects of potassium on plant root architecture. The research was conducted under plant tissue culture technique to observe the influence or effect of different K levels on paddy root system architecture (RSA) and the differences in length of seminal root (SR) and number of lateral (LR) and crown roots (CR) in paddy. Four treatment with different concentrations of potassium (K) fertilizer (Muriate of Potash) with 5 replications was used. The four treatments are categorized into control. 0, 0.01g and 0.1g levels of fertilizer. After fourteen days of germination period, the image of RSA was taken to observe the overall architecture. The seminal root length was measured, and the number of lateral and crown root was recorded to analyse the differences between different amounts of Potassium. The outcome shows that the number of crow n root decreases as the amount of potassium increase. Although the number of lateral root shows no huge significant between different amounts of Potassium, the highest number of LR were recorded at the 0.1g treatment. The highest measurement of SR is in 0g of K. However, the treatment with 0.1g of K shows onlyslight
different in length of SR in 0.1 g treatment.