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ARS Home » Plains Area » Temple, Texas » Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #427040
Research Project: Enhancing Cropping System and Grassland Sustainability in the Texas Gulf Coast Region by Managing Systems for Productivity and Resilience

Location: Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory

Title: Laboratory root processing and scanning for grasslands and forages

Author
item Grisham, Christopher
item Rowley, David
item Schantz, Merilynn

Submitted to: Protocols.io
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/7/2025
Publication Date: 6/7/2025
Citation: Grisham, C., Rowley, D.W., Schantz, M.C. 2025. Laboratory root processing and scanning for grasslands and forages. Protocols.io. https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.261ge8zxwg47/v1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.261ge8zxwg47/v1

Interpretive Summary: Root scanning procedures need to be optimized for forage plant production. In this study we detail a procedure for scanning roots collected from range, pasture and forage sites. This procedure is important for properly accounting for belowground plant processes on soil health.

Technical Abstract: Belowground plant growth (i.e. root production) is a crucial, yet understudied, property of seeded pasturelands, with consequences for soil quality and nutrient cycling. Root production is a product of each species’ morphological traits (e.g. taproot versus fibrous root) and are directly affected by abiotic factors including soil texture and climate. In pasturelands utilized for livestock forage production, root production is affected by anthropogenic management activities including seeded species, seeding rates, fertilizer application and hay cutting. Such management activities interact with abiotic factors like precipitation availability to influence traits including length, density, and nutrient ratios, ultimately affecting total root production. In recent years, root production in managed pasturelands and native grasslands has emerged as potential carbon storage location to help mitigate rising global CO2 levels. In this protocol, we describe a laboratory process to clean and process, as well as utilize the WinRHIZO™ scanning software to quantify root morphological traits from herbaceous grassland and forage plants.