title: Improving crop nutrient efficiency through root architecture modifications.
abstract: Improving crop nutrient efficiency becomes an essential consideration for environmentally friendly and sustainable agriculture. Plant growth and development is dependent on 17 essential nutrient elements, among them, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are the two most important mineral nutrients. Hence it is not surprising that low N and/or low P availability in soils severely constrains crop growth and productivity, and thereby have become high priority targets for improving nutrient efficiency in crops. Root exploration largely determines the ability of plants to acquire mineral nutrients from soils. Therefore, root architecture, the 3-dimensional configuration of the plant's root system in the soil, is of great importance for improving crop nutrient efficiency. Furthermore, the symbiotic associations between host plants and arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi/rhizobial bacteria, are additional important strategies to enhance nutrient acquisition. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in the current understanding of crop species control of root architecture alterations in response to nutrient availability and root/microbe symbioses, through gene or QTL regulation, which results in enhanced nutrient acquisition.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.|Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Root Biology Center, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
authors.forename: Xinxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
authors.forename: Rensen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Root Biology Center, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liao
mesh_terms: D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000378:metabolism; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000378:metabolism*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Nitrogen; nutrient efficiency; phosphorus; root architecture; symbiosis