From Water Delivery to Root-Zone Engineering: Drip Irrigation Drives Adaptive Root Architectural Plasticity and Enhances Spatiotemporal Root-Water Coupling in Maize.

Bin Wang, Licun Zhang, Guodong Wang, Jiliang Zheng, Fei Liang

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Plants (Basel, Switzerland), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Bin WangSchool of Resources and Environment, Yili Normal University, Yining 835000, China.

Licun ZhangSchool of Resources and Environment, Yili Normal University, Yining 835000, China.

Guodong WangInstitute of Farmland Water Conservancy and Soil-Fertilizer, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Reclamation Science, Shihezi 832000, China.

Jiliang ZhengInstitute of Resources and Ecology, Yili Normal University, Yining 835000, China.

Fei LiangSchool of Resources and Environment, Yili Normal University, Yining 835000, China.ORCID 0000-0003-2913-6641

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The shift from furrow irrigation (FI) to mulched drip irrigation (DI) drives adaptive restructuring of maize root architecture, strengthening spatiotemporal root-soil water coupling. Conventional FI often leads to a spatial mismatch between root distribution and water supply, constraining water productivity in arid regions. Using a three-year field experiment (2019-2021) in Xinjiang, China, this study examined how DI reshapes maize root architecture in three dimensions and affects grain yield under contrasting hydrological conditions. Results demonstrate that DI systematically reconfigures root spatial deployment, promoting a "fine-and-dense" root phenotype. Compared to FI, DI increased fine and medium root length by 35.0-38.6% in the emitter-proximal zone (0-10 cm) and concentrated 78.2% of absorptive roots within the upper 0-20 cm. Vertical root distribution followed an exponential decay pattern, with significantly steeper gradients under DI-root length at 10 cm depth was 303.4% (2019) and 50.4% (2020) higher than under FI (

Indexed as

drought-root plasticity nexusfine-root proliferationroot-water spatial couplingroot-zone engineeringwater productivity in arid agriculture

Identifiers

PMID42452184

DOI10.3390/plants15131978

PMCPMC13363741

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