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Root growth and force chains in a granular soil

Mahmoud Fakih1,2,*, Jean-Yves Delenne3,†, Farhang Radjai1,4,‡, and Thierry Fourcaud2,§

  • 1LMGC, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, 163 rue Auguste Broussonnet, 34095 Montpellier, France
  • 2AMAP, CIRAD, CNRS, INRA, IRD, University of Montpellier, TA A51/PS2, 34398 Montpellier, France
  • 3IATE, INRA, CIRAD, SupAgro, University of Montpellier, 2 place Pierre Viala, 34060 Montpellier, France
  • 4⟨MSE⟩2, UMI 3466 CNRS-MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge 02139, USA

  • *Presently at Department of Civil Engineering, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon; mahmoud.fakih@lau.edu.lb
  • †jean-yves.delenne@umontpellier.fr
  • ‡franck.radjai@umontpellier.fr
  • §thierry.fourcaud@cirad.fr
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Phys. Rev. E 99, 042903 – Published 15 April, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.99.042903

Abstract

Roots provide basic functions to plants such as water and nutrient uptake and anchoring in soil. The growth and development of root systems contribute to colonizing the surrounding soil and optimizing the access to resources. It is generally known that the variability of plant root architecture results from the combination of genetic, physiological, and environmental factors, in particular soil mechanical resistance. However, this last factor has never been investigated at the soil grain scale for roots. In this paper, we are interested in the effect of the disordered texture of granular soils on the evolution of forces experienced by the root cap during its growth. We introduce a numerical model in which the root is modeled as a flexible self-elongating tube that probes a soil composed of solid particles. By means of extensive simulations, we show that the forces exerted on the root cap reflect interparticle force chains. Our simulations also show that the mean force declines exponentially with root flexibility, the highest force corresponding to the soil hardness. Furthermore, we find that this functional dependence is characterized by a single dimensionless parameter that combines granular structure and root bending stiffness. This finding will be useful to further address the biological issues of mechanosensing and thigmomorphogenesis in plant roots.

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Phys. Rev. E 99, 042903– Published 15 April, 2019
  • Received 22 November 2018
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