Plants possibility to control soil gas exchanges via mucilage
- 1Institute for Environmental Sciences, Geophysics, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany (haupenthal@uni-landau.de)
- 2Institute for Environmental Sciences, Environmental and Soil Chemistry, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany
- 3Institute for Environmental Sciences, Geoecology and Physical Geography, University Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany
Gaseous matter exchanges in soil are determined by the connectivity of the pore system which is easily clogged by fresh root exudates. However, it remains unclear how a hydrogel (e.g. mucilage) affects soil pore tortuosity when drying. The aim of this study is to obtain a better understanding of gas diffusion processes in the rhizosphere by explaining patterns formed by drying mucilage.
We measured oxygen diffusion through a soil-mucilage mixture after drying using a diffusion chamber experiment. Therefore we mixed soil with different particle size with various amounts of mucilage. Afterwards we saturated the soil and measured the gas diffusion coefficient during drying.
We found that mucilage decreases gas diffusion coefficient in dry soil without significantly altering bulk density and porosity. Electron microscopy indicate that during drying mucilage forms filaments and interconnected structures throughout the pore space. Exudation of mucilage may be a plant possibility to actively alter gas diffusion in soil.
How to cite: Haupenthal, A., Bentz, J., Brax, M., Schuetzenmeister, K., Jungkunst, H., and Kroener, E.: Plants possibility to control soil gas exchanges via mucilage, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-8447, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-8447, 2020