Plants grown in pots never reach their full potential, images of their roots show.
A medical imaging technique called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used by researchers to capture plant pot root snapshots.
The pictures reveal that the roots "sense the size of the pot" and restrict the growth of the plant.
The findings have been presented at the Society for Experimental Biology's annual meeting in Salzburg, Austria.
Lead researcher Hendrik Poorter, from the Julich research institute in Germany, told BBC Nature that as soon as he saw the results, he re-potted all of his houseplants.
"I thought, you poor guys, what have I done to you?" he recalled.
For the imaging study the research team focused on two species - sugarbeet and barley.
Dr Poorter's colleague Dagmar van Dusschoten produced the MRI scans. The technique, used widely in medicine, reveals the water molecules within the plant roots.
The resulting 3D map of the roots' structure stretching to the outer limits of the pot shows, for the first time, exactly how restricted potted plants are.
In their experiments on 80 different species, the team found that doubling a pot's size caused a plant to grow almost half as big again. 각기 다른 80종의 실험에서 우리 연구팀은 화분의 크기를 두배로 하면 식물은 다시 거의 반 정도 더 크게 자란다.
"The most surprising thing is that there seems to be no end to the pot limitation," explained Dr Poorter.
"For every plant species we looked at, pot size was the factor limiting its growth."
우리가 보건데, 모든 식물에게 화분의 크기는 식물의 성장을 제약하는 요인이다.
'Happy' plants
Within as little as two weeks of seeds being sown, the scientist explained, a plant's roots would stretch to the edge of the pot and then, "the trouble starts".
"When they reach the edge, they send some kind of signal to the shoots to say, 'there's a problem - stop growing'."
뿌리가 화분 끝단에 이르면, 뿌리는 "무슨 문제가 있어, 성장을 멈춰!" 라고 신호를 보낸다
Each plant appeared to be trying to escape its pot; more than three quarters of the root system was in the outer half of the container.
"The inside of the pot is hardly used," explained Dr Poorter.
Research in this subject has, in the past, focused on pot size from the perspective of how small a container plants can be grown in, as the aim is to grow as many plants as possible per square metre in a commercial setting.
But Dr Poorter said: "We want to make plants as happy as possible."
Although this may sound sentimental, understanding a plant's full potential is crucial for the researchers that study them; it reveals how much of a parallel can be drawn between studies carried out in the lab and how plants would grow in nature.
"Even the largest pot was not large enough not to limit growth."
Prof Andrew Fleming from the University of Sheffield said the use of MRI was a "neat approach" to studying plants.
He told BBC Nature: "It shows how novel (live) imaging can be used to provide new insights into how plants actually grow."
첫댓글 자연을 마음대로 잡아와서 화분에 가두는데 끊질긴 생명력은 좁은공간에서 개체 생명력을 유지할려고 노력합니다.
우리가 생각한만큼 이상으로 슬기롭게 적읍합니다. 분제애서 뽕나부 오동나무 잎이 너무커서 .... 분지가 잘않되어서 등등 제한품종이 더러있읍니다. 그러나 관엽은 조금 선택이 자유스러운 것 같네요. 군자란 달마종은 비료 수분 다소 적개 투여해야하고 무늬종은 과감히 비료 수분을 투여해야되고 ....
점점 어려워집니다.
군자란은 아주초보적이며 친인간적인 화초라고 사료됩니다. 하지만, 녀석들을 막상 제대로파고들라치면 우선 많은 인내와 노력 끊임없는 열정을 요구합니다. 우리는 오래 방치했던 군자란 분갈이를 하다가 흙 하나없이 서로 엉키고 둘둘말린 뿌리를 보게되는데요.경험대로라면 분 깊이에서오는 문제는 별로 없는듯했습니다. 즉, "문제가생겼어 멈춰!" 가 아니고
문제가생겼으니 돌아! 혹은 뭉쳐! 일수도 있다는 말이죠. 그래서 저는 특별한 대주 말고는 빨리 마르는 얕은 분을 선호하는데 별 문제 없었습니다. 시약, 영양분, 퇴비,요런건 쉽고도 어려운 어렵고도쉬운 B형여자 닮았습니다.
영양가없이 말이 깁니다.ㅎㅎ 그리고 주의할것은 여기 몇분 도사리거나 노출된 고수분들이 시도하는 신종개발 변이종연구 퇴비연구 조기숙성방법연구 단엽종시도 이런 화려한 수식어들 뒤란은 엄청난 물량투입과 준열하고 신산한고통의세월이 즐비해 있아오니 지금 꿈꾸는분들은 각오하셔야할겁니다. 단, 무었과도 비견할수없는 성취감도 있겠죠. 저는 아직 첫잠중이라 군자란 야동수준의 저급한 꿈 중이오며....