Behavior Study of Plant Roots under Physical Obstacles Based on a Root Obstacle Microfluidic Chip

The behavior study of plant roots under physical obstacles is of significant importance for comprehending how plants adapt to the changes in the soil environment. Currently, there is no satisfactory method to simulate the soil obstacle environment and track the dynamic change of the root system under physical obstacles. In this work, based on the soil compaction and mechanical obstacles encountered by the root system in the soil, an obstacle microfluidic chip with seven different channels was designed. The obstacle microfluidic chip was fully utilized to take advantage of the variable structure of microfluidic chips to design chip architectures, making it convenient to study the plasticity of root systems under various barriers. The results demonstrated that the microfluidic system's high-resolution imaging capabilities enabled the visualization and quantification of the plant root system's growth behavior in the presence of mechanical obstacles. In addition, to account for the growth resistance or pressure experienced by the roots in the soil, the models were simulated by the fluid flow within the chip. Overall, the obstacle microfluidic chips designed in this study can be used for imaging and quantifying the plasticity of plant roots, which can be an effective tool for tracking the root system's response to mechanical stress.