Abstract Soil salinization in agricultural environments is a major soil degradation process, particularly in dry regions. Soil salinization puts at risk the natural ecosystem and the agricultural crops, which are usually sensitive to elevated salinities. In this work, a conceptual model is proposed and tested experimentally, to examine the impact of root system dimension and distribution on solute transport and accumulation in the root zone. For this purpose, tomatoes were grown in growing chambers, under conditions of salty water irrigation. Root density, salt concentration and soil water content distributions were measured and correlations between the three parameters were found for different root system sizes. Results show that confined root systems were highly salinized with a strong correlation between root location and salt distribution in the soil. Broad root systems, on the other hand, showed a reduction in soil bulk salinity at the root zone and that about 50 % of the root system is under conditions of low salinity. The physical reasons for this observation are proposed herein and it is suggested that in the future, development of crops with large root systems could be considered as another tool to cope with soil salinization.

中文翻译：

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根系大小和密度对根区盐分分布的潜在影响

摘要 农业环境中的土壤盐渍化是一个主要的土壤退化过程，特别是在干旱地区。土壤盐渍化使自然生态系统和农作物面临风险，它们通常对盐度升高很敏感。在这项工作中，提出了一个概念模型并进行了实验测试，以检查根系尺寸和分布对根区溶质运输和积累的影响。为此，西红柿在盐水灌溉条件下在生长室中生长。测量了根密度、盐浓度和土壤含水量分布，并发现了不同根系大小的三个参数之间的相关性。结果表明，封闭的根系高度盐碱化，根系位置与土壤中盐分分布之间存在很强的相关性。另一方面，宽根系统显示根区土壤整体盐度降低，并且大约 50% 的根系统处于低盐度条件下。本文提出了这种观察的物理原因，并建议在未来，可以考虑开发具有大根系的作物作为应对土壤盐渍化的另一种工具。