EVALUATION OF WHEAT CULTIVARS ROOT TRAITS AT STANDARD AND LOW PH ENVIRONMENT CONDITIONS WITH HIGHER CONCENTRATION OF ALUMINUM IONS

Winter wheat cultivars Atlas 66 and Zdar were cultivated in sand and w ater culture with two types of nutrient solution-pH 6.5 and pH 4.5 wit h 2 mmol.l(-1) of aluminium ions. After one week of cultivation the ro ot system was sampled. The morphology was analysed by the image analys er LUCIA-D and total length, surface area and number of root tips were determined. The largest differences of measured root traits were at w ater culture. Cultivar Zdar has the higher number of lateral root tips , root surface and total length of root in comparison with Atlas. Whil e primordia of lateral roots of more tolerant cv. Atlas 66 continue in their growth, in case of cv. Zdar primordia stopped their growth very early, which resulted in inhibition of total root length. The image a nalysis provides easy way to estimate morphological traits of roots in different types of environment which are very useful for physiologica l interpretation and for utilisation in plant breeding.