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Related Concept Videos

Responses to Drought and Flooding

Responses to Drought and Flooding

Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.

Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss

Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss

Though evaporation from plant leaves drives transpiration, it also results in loss of water. Because water is critical for photosynthetic reactions and other cellular processes, evolutionary pressures on plants in different environments have driven the acquisition of adaptations that reduce water loss.

Regulation of Transpiration by Stomata

Regulation of Transpiration by Stomata

During photosynthesis, plants acquire the necessary carbon dioxide and release the produced oxygen back into the atmosphere. Openings in the epidermis of plant leaves is the site of this exchange of gasses. A single opening is called a stoma—derived from the Greek word for “mouth.” Stomata open and close in response to a variety of environmental cues.

Water and Mineral Acquisition

Water and Mineral Acquisition

Specialized tissues in plant roots have evolved to capture water, minerals, and some ions from the soil. Roots exhibit a variety of branching patterns that facilitate this process. The outermost root cells have specialized structures called root hairs that increase the root surface, thus increasing soil contact. Water can passively cross into roots, as the concentration of water in the soil is higher than that of the root tissue. Minerals, in contrast, are actively transported into root cells.

Light Acquisition

Light Acquisition

In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 10, 2026

Lateral Root Inducible System in Arabidopsis and Maize

Lateral Root Inducible System in Arabidopsis and Maize

Published on: January 14, 2016

Reduced Lateral Root Branching Density Improves Drought Tolerance in Maize.

Ai Zhan¹, Hannah Schneider¹, Jonathan P Lynch²

¹State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China (A.Z.); andDepartment of Plant Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 (A.Z., H.S., J.P.L.).

Plant Physiology

|June 17, 2015

Summary

Selecting for fewer but longer lateral roots in maize (Zea mays) enhances drought tolerance by improving water acquisition. This root trait offers a promising strategy for developing more resilient crops.

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Last Updated: Apr 10, 2026

Lateral Root Inducible System in Arabidopsis and Maize

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Published on: January 14, 2016

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Published on: July 23, 2014

Area of Science:

Agricultural Science
Plant Biology
Genetics

Background:

Root traits influence resource acquisition and crop performance.
Reducing metabolic costs of soil exploration may enhance water uptake under stress.

Purpose of the Study:

To test if reduced lateral root branching density improves drought tolerance in maize.
To investigate the link between root architecture, water acquisition, and biomass production under drought.

Main Methods:

Maize recombinant inbred lines with contrasting lateral root phenotypes (few-long vs. many-short) were evaluated.
Experiments were conducted in greenhouse mesocosms and field conditions under water stress.
Measurements included root respiration, rooting depth, leaf water content, stomatal conductance, biomass, and yield.

Main Results:

Maize with few but long lateral roots exhibited reduced root respiration and deeper rooting.
This phenotype led to greater leaf relative water content and stomatal conductance under drought.
Field trials showed significantly greater shoot biomass and yield in the few-long lateral root lines under water stress.

Conclusions:

Reduced lateral root branching density significantly improves drought tolerance in maize.
The few-long lateral root phenotype is a potential selection target for enhancing crop resilience to drought.
This strategy may be applicable to other cereal crops for improved water acquisition.