Effect of soil drying on mucilage exudation and its water repellency: A new method to collect mucilage

Mutez A. Ahmed, Maire Holz, Susanne K. Woche, Jörg Bachmann, Andrea Carminati

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

Despite the importance of mucilage for soil-plant relations, little is known about the effect of soil drying on mucilage exudation. We introduce a method to collect mucilage from maize growing in wet and dry soils. Mucilage was collected from brace roots. The amount of mucilage exuded did not change with soil water content and transpiration rate. Mucilage exuded in dry soils had a higher degree of hydrophobicity, suggesting that the wetting properties of mucilage change in response to soil drying.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)821-824
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science
Volume178
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Brace root
  • Contact angle
  • Maize
  • Rhizosphere
  • Root mucilage
  • Soil water content

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