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An Axenic Plant Culture System for Optimal Growth in Long-Term Studies

^a Department of Plants, Soils, and Biometeorology, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322
^b Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322

View larger version (30K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Glass column system used for axenic plant culture and study of root exudates.

View larger version (26K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Relationship between volumetric water content and matric potential in each of the five sand layers of the column as predicted by the van Genuchten (1980) water retention model: (A) water retention curves for the sand sizes used, and (B) thickness of each layer. The quasi-static equilibrium after drainage provides a volumetric water content between 0.15 and 0.32 in each layer.

View larger version (167K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Plants grown in a laminar flow hood with a photosynthetic photon flux of 550 µmol m–2 s–1 from high-pressure sodium lamps. Plant growth columns were supported by racks that allowed air flow between and around the columns.

View larger version (29K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Effect of time on contamination under four cultural conditions. After each successive trial, changes were made in the next trial to decrease contamination. The most successful was Trial 6, which is described here. Only two out of 15 columns were contaminated at the end of Trial 6.

View larger version (25K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. Plant mass during the study estimated from transpiration rate. Each curve represents one plant. Evaporation was subtracted from all plants.

View larger version (20K): [in a new window]   Fig. 6. Transpiration rates of three replicate plants with volumetric water content (V) decreasing from container capacity (v [volumetric water content] = 0.32). Transpiration rates decreased when moisture content was lower than about v = 0.1, so the readily available water was about 35 mL in the 154-cm3 sand columns (22% of column volume).

View larger version (21K): [in a new window]   Fig. 7. Exudation rates per plant per day during the study. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean.