Development of a new rhizobox system to study the nutrient status in the rhizosphere

Abstract

The conditions at the soil-root interface are sometimes considerably different from those at a distance from the roots (MARSCHNER 1986), and many researchers have been interested in studying the characteristics of this zone (rhizosphere) in relation to bulk soil (NYE and TINKER 1978; GREENLAND 1979; BARBER 1984). Attempts have been made to circumvent the problem of making an arbitrary separation between the rhizosphere and bulk soil (HELAL und SAUERBECK 1981; KUCHENBUCH and JUNGK 1982). However, several problems remain to be solved, such as the amount of sample which is very small for chemical determinations of nutrients and the extent to which roots affect the availability of nutrients.

Key Words:

• rhizosphere
• pH
• nutrient distribution
• rhizobox.