First root samples

The first root samples have been taken for the MaxRoot-C project.

We have 15 different winter wheat varieties growing in 11 different countries all across Europe. We want to optimize the variety selection towards increased root biomass while not compromising yield and yield stability. For this, Juliane Hirte from Agroscope went to one of these winter wheat trial sites in Spain to collect roots during anthesis in mid May. The aim is to quantify arbuscular mycorrhizal abundance in order to estimate the genotypic variability in root C allocation for selected varieties as part of an in depth study.