Abstract
Root hairs are presumably important in the acquisition of immobile soil resources such as phosphorus. The density and length of root hairs vary substantially within and between species, and are highly regulated by soil phosphorus availability, which suggests that at high nutrient availability, root hairs may have a neutral or negative impact on fitness. We used a root-hairless mutant of the small herbaceous dicot Arabidopsis thaliana to assess the effect of root hairs on plant competition under contrasting phosphorus regimes. Wildtype plants were grown with hairless plants in a replacement series design at high (60 μm phosphate in soil solution) and low (1 μm phosphate in soil solution) phosphorus availability. At high phosphorus availability, wildtype and mutant plants were equal in growth, phosphorus acquisition, fecundity and relative crowding coefficient (RCC). At low phosphorus availability, hairless plants accumulated less biomass and phosphorus, and produced less seed when planted with wildtype plants. Wildtype plants were unaffected by the presence of hairless plants in mixed genotype plantings. Wildtype plants had RCC values greater than one while hairless plants had RCC values less than one. We conclude that root hairs increase the competitiveness of plants under low phosphorus availability but do not reduce growth or competitiveness under high phosphorus availability.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aerts R, Boot R and Van Der Aart P 1991 The relation between above-and below-ground biomass allocation patterns and competitive ability.Oecologia87, 551–559.
Barber S A 1995. Soil nutrient bioavailability: a mechanistic approach, 2nd edn. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Bates T and Lynch J 2000a The efficiency of Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae) root hairs in phosphorus acquisition. Amer. J. Bot. 87,964–970.
Bates T and Lynch J 2000b Plant growth and phosphorus accumulation of wild type and two root hair mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae).Amer. J. Bot. 87, 958–963.
Bates T R 1998 The importance of root hairs in phosphorus acquisition and the mechanism of root hair elongation in phosphorus deficient Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Horticulture, The Pennsylvania State University.
Bates T R and Lynch J P 1996 Stimulation of root hair elongation in Arabidopsis thaliana by low phosphorus availability.Plant Cell Environ. 19, 529–538.
Begon M, Harper J L and Townsend C R 1990. Ecology: Individuals, Populations and Communities,2nd edn. Blackwell Scientific Publications.
Caradus J R 1982. Genetic differences in the length of root hairs in white clover and their effect on phosphorus uptake.Proceedings of the Ninth International Plant Nutrition Colloquium. Farnham Royal, Bucks, UK.84–88.
Casper B B and Jackson R B 1997 Plant competition underground. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 28, 545–570.
De Wit C T 1960 On competition. Agricultural Research Reports Verl. Landbouk. Onderz. 66, 1–82.
De Wit C T and Goudriaan J 1973. Simulation of ecological processes. Centre for Agricultural Processing and Documentation.
Firbank L G and Watkinson A R 1985 On the analysis of competition within two-species mixtures of plants.J. Appl. Ecol.22, 503–517.
Fleming G F, Young F L and Ogg A G 1988 Competitive relationships among winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) and downy brome (Bromus tectorum).Weed Sci.36, 479–486.
Gahoonia T S, Care D and Nielsen N E 1997 Root hairs and phosphorus acquisition of wheat and barley cultivars. Plant Soil 191, 181–188.
Gahoonia T S and Nielsen N E 1997 Variation in root hairs of barley cultivars doubled soil phosphorus uptake.Euphytica98, 177–182.
Gahoonia T S and Nielsen N E 1998 Direct evidence on participation of root hairs in phosphorus (P-32) uptake from soil.Plant Soil 198, 147–152.
Ge Z, Rubio G and Lynch J P 2000 The importance of root gravitropism for inter-root competition and phosphorus acquisition efficiency: results from a geometric simulation model.Plant Soil 218, 159–171.
Grime J P 1973a Competition and diversity in herbaceous vegetation - a reply. Nature244,310–311.
Grime J P 1973b Competitive exclusion in herbaceous vegetation. Nature 242,342–347.
Grubb P J 1994 Root competition in soils of different fertility: a paradox resolved?Phytocoenologia24,495–505.
Hofer R M 1996. Root hairs. In Plant Roots-The Hidden Half, Eds. Waisel Y, Eshel A and Kafkafi U. pp. 111–126.Marcel Dekker, Inc.
Itoh S and Barber S A 1983 Phosphorus uptake by six plant species as related to root hairs.Agron. J.75, 457–461
Johnson C, Stout P, Broyer T and Carlton A 1957 Comparative chlorine requirements of different plant species.Plant Soil 8, 337–353.
Jolliffe P A, Minjas A N and Runeckles V C 1984 A reinterpretation of yield relationships in replacement series experiments.J. Appl. Ecol.21,227–243.
Lynch J, Epstein E, Lauchli A and Weigt G 1990 An automated greenhouse sand culture system suitable for studies of P nutrition. Plant Cell Environ.13,547–554.
Ma Z, Bielenberg D, Brown K and Lynch JP 2001 Regulation of root hair density in Arabidopsis by phosphorus availability.Plant Cell Environ.24,459–467.
Nielsen K L, Bouma T J, Lynch J P and Eissenstat D M 1998 Effects of phosphorus availability and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizas on the carbon budget of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).New Phytol.139, 647–656.
Nielsen, K L, Eshel A and Lynch J P 2001 The effect of P availability on the carbon economy of contrasting common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes. J. Exp. Bot. 52, 329–339.
Rejmanek M, Robinson G R and Rejmankova E 1989 Weed-crop competition: experimental designs and models for data analysis. Weed Sci. 37,276–284.
Schiefelbein J W and Somerville C 1990 Genetic control of root hair development in Arabidopsis thaliana.Plant Cell 2, 235–243.
Schweiger P 1994 Factors affecting VA mycorrhizal uptake of phosphorus. Factors affecting VA mycorrhizal uptake of phosphorus. University of Western Australia.
Smith S E and Read D J 1997. Mycorrhizal symbiosis, 2nd edn. Academic Press.
Tilman D 1982 Resource Competition and Community Structure. Princeton University Press.
Tilman D 1987 On the meaning of competition and the mechanisms of competitive superiority.Funct. Ecol. 1,304–315.
Watanabe F and Olsen S 1965 Test of an ascorbic acid method for determining phosphorus on water and NaHCO3 extracts from soil.Soil Sci. Soc. Proc.9, 677–678.
Wilson J B 1988 Shoot competition and root competition.J. Appl. Ecol. 25, 279–296.
Yan X and Lynch J P 1998. Genetic variation for root hair density and length in the common bean in response to low phosphorus availability. In Phosphorus in Plant Biology: Regulatory Roles in Ecosystem, Organismic, Cellular, and Molecular Processes. Eds. Lynch J P and Deikman J. pp 332–334. American Society of Plant Physiologists. Section editor: B. Sattelmacher
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bates, T.R., Lynch, J.P. Root hairs confer a competitive advantage under low phosphorus availability. Plant and Soil 236, 243–250 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012791706800
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012791706800