Junhyung Park (1), Dahye Seo (1), Ki Woo Kim (1,2)
Forest Pathology, 50, Issue 4, August 2020. DOI: 10.1111/efp.12622

Keywords

adventitious root, mineral, tomography, wound

Abstract

The performance of laboratory X-ray computed tomography (XCT) for the non-destructive imaging of root wood was evaluated. Lateral roots of oriental cherry (Prunus serrulata var. spontanea) and Japanese zelkova (Zelkova serrata) were severed in spring and maintained in soil for 6 months. Without sectioning, XCT revealed the phloem, xylem and vascular cambium structures in the root wood. A virtual transverse section showed a ring of woundwood covering the severed, lateral root of the two trees. Different levels of X-ray absorption were evident around the cut surfaces of P. serrulata; however, they were rarely detected in Z. serrata. More adventitious roots were observed on Z. serrata than on P. serrulata. Distinct white spots in the rays were only detected in Z. serrata. These results suggest that XCT has potential applications in forest pathology, providing virtual sections of wound closure, wood density distribution, organ redifferentiation, and mineral deposition in root wood.

How Our Software Was Used

Dragonfly was used to process micrographs of the specimens.

Author Affiliation

(1) Department of Ecology and Environmental System, Kyungpook National University, Sangju, Korea.
(2) Tree Diagnostic Center, Kyungpook National University, Sangju, Korea.