Development of an Aeroponics System to Facilitate Investigations into the Development of Entire Sweetpotato Root Systems

The study of plant root biology has traditionally lagged behind compared to stems, leaves, flowers or fruits. Traditional methods for measuring roots grown in soil such as washing and root tracing are destructive and time consuming. Alternative approaches like the use of observation windows and rhizotrons typically underestimate some root growth parameters. Recent advances in imaging technologies have enabled the non-destructive measurement of root development but are currently cost-prohibitive and generally inaccessible to the broader scientific community. Another method is the use of aeroponics, where plant roots are fully accessible through the growth cycle, and can be fully recovered for harvesting. In this presentation, we describe ongoing work to develop an aeroponics growth system for facilitating observations of developing sweetpotato root systems and for enabling storage root formation. One of the goals of the work is to facilitate investigations into elucidating the role of genotypes in determining root system developmental responses to the presence or absence of specific nutrients. Results from ongoing work will increase our understanding of how nutritional cues influence sweetpotato root system development and storage root formation. Such knowledge has the potential direct agricultural applications through the identification and evaluation of management practices that optimize fertilizer recommendations.