I am trying to analyse fine roots of Ulmus laevis. I read a lot of papers , where the method of morphological traits is used to determine, whether roots are live or dead. The main characteristic of live roots, according to them, is "flexible cell walls, a white stele and turgid and unbroken root tips", while dead roots have " brownish stele and broken root tips". However, it is often difficult to decide whether roots are dead or live using the dissecting microscope. Does anybody have pictures as an example?
The second problem: what if one part of a root seems white and another one - brown?
The third problem: some roots that are finer than 2 mm look strange and I do not know whether they are live or dead (see photos).
Thank you very much in advance, and sorry for so many stupid questions and for the quality of photos :)
Most live roots are separated from dead roots , based on visual on observations only . Live roots are usually brighter in color, ( not necessarily white ), turgid not easily broken, cortex and periderm not easily separated. While dead roots are brittle, dark brown or black in color, shrieveled or wrinkled. Certain staining test is also used to distinguish dead roots from live roots. For example, tri-phenyltetrazolium chloride with white oaks, Evans blue, tetrazolium chloride, toluidine blue O, etc Certain primers are also used at molecular level , for example restriction enzyme ribosomal DNA hybridization .....
Plant and Soil
November 1993, Volume 157, Issue 1, pp 151–154| Cite as
Separating live and dead fine roots using colloidal silica: an example from mangrove forests
- Abstract: Separation of live and dead fine roots is a critical process in studies of fine root dynamics, but many studies use subjective visual cues during time-consuming hand sorting of root samples, or do not attempt separation at all. Here we describe a method for separating fine roots from mangrove forests using solutions of colloidal silica. The method removed 96±2% (standard error) and 90 ± 4% of the dead roots from root samples obtained from forests of Ceriops tagaland Rhizophora stylosa, respectively. Live roots of both plant species were separated with an efficiency of 94 ± 2% when root samples contained greater than 1 g dry weight of live roots. Considerable variability was experienced with root samples containing less live roots. Separation efficiencies will need to be measured for roots from all different plant species.
agree with Anoop kumar Srivastava but i will add here that live and dead root distinguishing characteristic cretaria also varies with specie and age.
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