Fibrous Rooted Cereals Have Higher Root Length, Root and Shoot Biomass Features Than Tap Rooted Field Crops at Early and Late Growth Stages

The paper explored root and shoot features at eight different cool-season field crops with tap root (safflower, pea, Hungarian vetch) and fibrous root (barley, triticale, rye, wheat, oat). Plants were grown in 200 cm long tubes under field weather condition and harvested according to stem elongation and grain filling growth stages of cereals. In the late growth stage, safflower was not evaluated due to shading of cereal crops. It was found that root length of field crops with tap and fibrous root was ranged from 84.7 to 103.7 cm and 105.7 to 127.7 cm at early growth stage, respectively, while it varied from 84.5 to 115.7 and 117.3 to 166.0 cm at late growth stage. It was also determined that crops with tap root possessed significantly lower root and shoot biomass than cereals in both growth stage. Additionally, accumulation of root biomass in field crops at early and late growth stages varied in top soil layer with a range from 52.3 to 81.4% and 27.7 to 75.2% at 0-20 cm and 86.1 to 99.6% and 69.7 to 96.5% at 0-80 cm, respectively.