Field Minirhizotron Facilities

Selhausen, Germany

Minirhizotron Facility

The field minirhizotron facilities in Selhausen offers unique monitoring data and insights of the soil-plant continuum. The MR facilities were built by the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Institute of Bio- and Geosciences Agrosphere (IBG-3) and are located in Selhausen, Germany. They are part of the earth observation network TERENO (TERrestrial ENvironmental Observatories), specifically the Eifel/Lower Rhine observatory. The two MR facilities are situated in close proximity and share the local climate but have different soil types. Each MR facility is equipped with 7-meter-long horizontal, transparent rhizotubes installed at six depths with 9 replicates, which are utilized for crosshole ground penetrating radar (GPR) and minirhizotron camera measurement acquisition. Soil sensors deliver observations of soil temperature, soil water content and matric potential with high temporal and spatial resolution. The rhizotubes, which are located within an agricultural field, end in an access trench, where measurement can be performed and the data collection hardware for the soil sensors is located. The agricultural field is divided into three plots, which allow the comparison of different agricultural management practices, including surface water treatment (sheltered, natural, irrigated), sowing date, sowing density and comparing cultivars with differing rooting depths. The comprehensive data set collected enhances the understanding on root growth and soil water distribution for varying conditions within the soil-plant continuum.

The regularly updated multi-year above- and belowground data publications enhance the understanding of plant growth and plant-soil interactions under changing environmental conditions.

List of funding projects over the years:

Figure 1 A virtual field minirhizotron setup. Roots grow around the tubes as obstacles. Virtual root images  allow virtual field sampling for model parameterization and scenario simulations. 
Figure 2 3D spatiotemporal distribution of RLD measured in all tubes at one minirhizotron. Distances between tubes are not to scale. From https://doi.org/10.34133/2022/9758532
Figure 3 Horizontal and vertical soil water content variability determined by crosshole ground-penetrating radar and location of the above- ground location of the maize crops.
Contact persons

Prof. Dr. Anja Klotzsche

Head of research group "Multiscale Geophysics of soil-plant systems"

  • Institute of Bio- and Geosciences (IBG)
  • Agrosphere (IBG-3)
Building 16.6z /
Room 3057
+49 2461/61-1796
E-Mail

Prof. Dr. Andrea Schnepf

Head of research group "Soil-, Root Systems and Rhizosphere Processes"

  • Institute of Bio- and Geosciences (IBG)
  • Agrosphere (IBG-3)
Building 16.6 /
Room 3060
+49 2461/61-2658
E-Mail

References

Last Modified: 12.12.2024