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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.

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The Carbon Cycle

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The Soil Ecosystem

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Drought increases root and rhizodeposition carbon inputs into soils.

Elena Kost¹, Dominika Kundel², Matti Barthel¹

¹Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Plant and Soil

|March 2, 2026

Summary

Drought increases plant root and rhizodeposition carbon. Farmyard manure application enhances these drought-induced root responses, suggesting its benefit for soil carbon and nutrient uptake.

Keywords:

Belowground carbon Cropping system Drought Fine roots Rhizodeposition Roots

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Published on: January 16, 2014

Area of Science:

Agricultural Science
Soil Science
Plant Biology

Background:

Drought stress significantly impacts crop yield and plant health.
Plants adapt to drought by altering root systems and rhizodeposition for better resource acquisition.
Agricultural management practices influence root and rhizodeposition responses, but their interaction with drought is understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how different agricultural management systems affect plant root and rhizodeposition responses to drought.
To assess the impact of biodynamic, mixed conventional, and mineral conventional cropping systems on belowground carbon dynamics under drought conditions.

Main Methods:

A semi-continuous 13CO2 isotope labeling experiment was conducted in a long-term field study.
Drought was induced using rainout shelters in wheat fields across different cropping systems.
Root biomass, net rhizodeposition, and rhizosphere microbiome were analyzed.

Main Results:

Drought increased total root carbon, primarily through fine root biomass, especially in systems with farmyard manure (biodynamic and mixed conventional).
Net rhizodeposition carbon increased under drought across all systems, particularly in the topsoil (0.25m).
Drought altered the rhizosphere microbiome, increasing some plant-growth-promoting genera while decreasing others involved in nitrogen fixation.

Conclusions:

Drought enhances belowground carbon input via fine roots and rhizodeposition.
Farmyard manure application in cropping systems can amplify drought-induced increases in fine root carbon, potentially improving soil carbon sequestration and nutrient foraging.
Management strategies incorporating organic amendments may be crucial for enhancing crop resilience to drought.