Root architecture and phosphorus uptake in eucalyptus species with contrasting response to phosphorus availability in soil

• Grant number: 19/03165-7
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2020
• Effective date (End): April 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal researcher: Sara Adrian Lopez de Andrade
• Grantee: Samir Bichara
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/25498-0 - Phosphorus use efficiency in Eucalyptus and the physiological and genetic mechanisms involved, AP.TEM

Abstract

The term "eucalyptus" refers to the group of large trees of the genera Eucalyptus L'Hérit., Corymbia Hill and Johnson, and Angophora Cav, originating in regions of Australia and nearby islands. Their wide distribution gave them different strategies of adaptation to the most diverse edaphoclimatic conditions. Eucalyptus is the most cultivated forest genus in the world, occupying an area of about 18 million hectares, constituting its important economic resource in Brazil. Eucalyptus plants demand high amounts of nutrients, mainly phosphorus (P), a nutrient that acts in several metabolic and physiological processes. Plants absorb soil P, where it is available in inorganic form (Pi). The low availability of Pi in soil allowed the development of mechanisms to acquire P during plant evolution, such as the absorption capacity and efficiency in the internal use of P, the responses may be mainly related to the growth and changes in root architecture and morphology. The plants have developed a complex and plastic root system with key role in the absorption of water and nutrients, which are one of the central components of plant productivity, in what is understood by biomass accumulation. Under low P availability the plants invest in the increase of the root biomass next to the resource, for better absorption. The present project aims to evaluate the architecture and root morphology of five contrasting eucalyptus species in terms of their response to soil P availability under conditions of low and sufficient P availability, seeking to understand the morphological and physiological mechanisms that explain the efficiency in the absorption of P. It is also intended to study besides the structural alterations in the root architecture, the distribution and growth rate and the capacity of the different species in the emission of root hairs and in the kinetics of absorption of P in hydroponic system. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BICHARA, SAMIR; MAZZAFERA, PAULO; DE ANDRADE, SARA ADRIAN L. Root morphological changes in response to low phosphorus concentration in eucalypt species. TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION, JUN 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.