MuciAfri

Determining root mucilage exudation as a key adaptive trait mitigating drought impacts

15/05/2023 to 14/05/2024

Increasing climate risks such as intensified and recurrent drought has significantly put and will continue to pose pressure on the crop production practices worldwide. Mucilage is a polymeric gel exuded by plants at the root tip - and used as strategy mitigating drought impacts. It has been shown to facilitate root water uptake during soil drying by keeping the rhizosphere wet, connected to the root surface and hydraulically well conductive, especially in drying soil This project aims to develop an in-situ method to quantify and characterize mucilage exudation amount and its properties and by that characterize a key biophysical rhizosphere trait improving plant performance under drought.