Elucidation of eucalyptus root growth mechanism by application of electric field -effect of electric field application time and plant hormones

抄録

It is necessary for root of seedlings to firmly take root in the surrounding soil in afforestation in the desert in order to improve the revitalization rate of the seedlings. Previous studies have reported that root elongation is promoted by applying a constant electric field to the roots. In contrast, details of its elongation mechanism have not been clarified. In the present study, we focused on eucalyptus, used for afforestation in Australia, examined the mechanism of elongation of roots by application of electric field as follows. 1. Measurement of response time of plants against application of electric field, 2. Influence of addition of plant hormones upon application of electric field. When the electric field application time was changed from several hours to several minutes, growth response to the electric field was not confirmed at short electric field application time. In addition, growth promoting effect of the electric field application was not observed by adding plant hormones. However, long term electric application caused oblivious growth of roots and pH changing of the rhizosphere. Therefore, it was suggested that the eucalyptus growth due to the application of electric field requires a certain amount of application time, and physiological growth through plant hormones is occurring.