Dissolved oxygen and nitrogen form have important effects on rice root growth and nitrogen availability.An indica hybrid rice,Guodao 1,and a conventional japonica rice,Xiushui 09,were cultured in hypoxic nutrient solution with NH4NO3 or(NH4)2SO4 as the nitrogen source for six weeks in pools.A portion of the Guodao 1 seedlings after treatment in the pools for four weeks were transferred to a split-root system at different dissolved oxygen contents and cultured for an additional two weeks.Biomass,root morphological traits and nitrogen accumulation were recorded.Under the low rhizosphere dissolved oxygen content(0-1.0 mg/L),plant biomass was significantly increased under NH4NO3-N supply by about 69% in Guodao 1 and 41% in Xiushui 09 compared with those under NH4+-N alone.Similar results were observed for root number,maximum root length,root dry weight and root activity.Nitrogen accumulations in roots and shoots were increased by 60% and 52% for Guodao 1,and by 41% and 33% for Xiushui 09,respectively,in the NH4NO3-N treatment.In the split-root system,the high rhizosphere dissolved oxygen content(8.0-9.0 mg/L) promoted root growth and development.Root biomass was increased by 21.6%,root number by 27%,maximum root length by 14%,and root volume by 10%.Moreover,nitrogen accumulation in roots was increased by 11% under high rhizosphere oxygen conditions.In conclusion,enhanced dissolved oxygen content and combined ammonium-nitrate nitrogen source have positive effects on root growth and nitrogen accumulation of rice plants.
