Drought effects on root traits and yield components in dwarf and tall winter rye 

This five-day on-site research experience introduces students to the experimental assessment of root traits and yield components in winter rye exposed to drought stress at two important developmental stages: stem elongation and heading. 

The activities are embedded in the RYSILIENCE project, which compares dwarf and tall winter rye varieties and investigates their specific morpho-physiological adaptation mechanisms under water-limited conditions. The underlying hypothesis is that dwarf and tall varieties differ in biomass partitioning between below-ground and grain yield. These differences may be reflected in root biomass, spike biomass, spike characteristics and grain production. 

Students will work with plant material obtained from a field experiment. They will measure dry root and spike biomass, score yield-related spike traits and prepare root samples for image-based analysis. Root samples will be cleaned, processed and analysed using WinRHIZO. Particular attention will be given to consistent sample handling, traceable data recording and the generation of comparable root trait measurements. 

Following the practical measurements, students will clean and organise the resulting dataset, produce suitable visualisations and conduct a basic statistical interpretation. They will compare the responses of dwarf and tall varieties and relate the observed root and yield-component traits to the initial research hypothesis.  

General learning outcomes

1. Explain how drought stress during stem elongation and heading can affect biomass allocation and yield formation in winter rye.  
2. Measure dry root and spike biomass and conduct standardized scoring of yield-related spike traits.  
3. Clean and prepare root samples and perform image-based root measurements using WinRHIZO.  
4. Clean, visualize and conduct a basic statistical interpretation of experimental data.  
5. Relate experimental results to the research hypothesis and communicate the findings in a short scientific report.