This interdisciplinary research examines below ground interactions between plants and soil, focusing on root growth and the rhizosphere. Research includes root growth processes in relation to environmental stresses, nutrient and water capture by roots, nutrient and carbon cycling by rhizosphere microbes, the role of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi, soil stabilisation by plant roots and root traits to overcome the physical stresses of compaction, drought and water-logging .
Much of our research in this area untangles quantitative processes, which provides information vital to modelling of root growth in soil. Links to genetics research, who can provide novel germplasm with different root properties, provides an excellent tool to unravel root traits to target in the development of new crop varieties. Our work on root phenomics is applied to develop crops for specific soil environments, such as reduced tillage or compacted soils.