Diploma thesis "Quantification of the rhizodeposition of winter wheat"

Summary

Soils are important for the global carbon budget and therefore also for the climate system of the earth. Processes of the carbon dynamic and carbon storage influence the capacity of soils and hence the associated function of the soil as a carbon dioxide sink. Roots are storage organs of plants which deposit a determinate quantity of carbon into the soil. The knowledge of the quantity of this deposition is of decisive importance for the simulation of turnover processes in the soil. Up to now, informations on the dynamic of the carbon input of roots are hardly available.
The minirhizotron method followed by a computer based analysis via the programs MiRIA (ERZ 2006) and WinRHIZO Tron MF is used for the investigation of quantitative data of the rhizodeposition. For the determination of reference values the auger method after SCHUURMAN & GOEDEWAAGEN (1971) is applied.
In the present diploma thesis the dynamic of root growth and rhizodeposition of winter wheat is investigated for the observation period from the 27th of February 2007 to the 5th of July 2007. The image analysis programs, which are used in this study, facilitate the reduction of expenditure of time and work for the data acquisition in two different ways. Fundamental advisements for the manual and automatic detection and classification of roots are necessary. Methodically starting points are derived from the literature of root morphology and development as well as from existing methods of the rhizosphere research. With the help of the reference values it is finally possible to quantify root weight and root length for the entire observation period from data that were collected by applying the minirhizotron method.

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