Spatial Information System Approach to Analyzing Root and Fertilizer Reaction Zone Interactions.

Plant roots and fertilizer reactions zones are both known to be dynamic in time and space, and it is well established the ammoniacal-N based fertilizer have toxic effects on plant roots. In an effort to better describe the symptoms of the ammonia/ammonium toxicity symptoms on a Canola seedling roots the symptoms of toxicity were described spatially and temporally using image analysis techniques. To better understand the interactions between seedling root symptoms and fertilizer reaction zones a spatial information system was used to overlay modeled ammonium and ammonia levels, measure ammonium and nitrate levels, and image data of the root system in time and space. The root images were then analyzed for symptoms and the symptoms were correlated with the corresponding levels of ammonium and nitrate. It was found that symptoms of ammonium toxicity correlated with specific background levels of ammonia and ammonium.