Root system architecture of paddy in nitrogen acquisition / Noor Shahidah Abdul Halim and Siti Sarah Jumali

The term root architecture has been used in various contexts to refer to specific aspects of the shape of the root systems. Understanding the development and architecture of roots holds potential for the exploitation and manipulation of root characteristics to both increase food plant yield and optimize agricultural land use. The root system architecture is shaped by the environmental signals and other external cues, which modulate root growth direction and kinetics, as well as its surface by affecting root hair growth and frequency of branching especially in paddy. Nitrogen (N)promotes rapid plant growth and improves grain yield and grain quality. Optimal N management strategies aim at matching fertilizer's N supply with actual crop demand, will increase crop N uptake and decrease N losses to the environment. The objective of this experiment is to identify the length of seminal root, number of lateral and crown root during nitrogen acquisition. In this study; all process in identifying root types and observing the root system architecture was done in laboratory. The results on different root architecture of paddy with different concentrations of N shows significant difference since all type of roots shows different reaction towards nitrogen acquisition. Seminal roots are of greatest importance during the early growth of the seedling before the crown roots of higher internodes become well established. In addition to that, crown roots make up most of the paddy root system and are primarily responsible for soil resource acquisition later in development. In particular, formation of lateral roots is one of the key determinants of the root architecture. As in paddy, many lateral roots formation show’s that the paddy is getting enough nutrients as it is important for formation of phloem cells.