Winrhizo pro 2009c software

Plant height, tiller numbers, and leaf number on the main axis were measured manually. Plant height was measured using the metric yard rule. The total leaf area was measured using the LI-3100 leaf-area meter (LI-COR, Inc., USA) 33 DAP or 21 DAS.
Individual plant’s roots and shoots were separated. The soil adhered to the roots and was washed thoroughly with a mild-speed water stream. Harvested roots were scanned using an Epson Expression 11000XL scanner at a resolution of 800 dots per inch, and the digital images were analyzed using WinRHIZO Pro 2009C software (Regent Instruments, Québec, Canada). Information extracted from the WinRHIZO software was used to determine the UV-B effect on root traits such as the longest root length, total root length, root surface area, root volume, average root diameter, root tips, root forks, and root crossings. Finally, we estimated the whole plant’s dry weight (leaf +stem +root) across treatments.

The number of mainstem leaves was measured as the total number of fully developed leaves. Leaf area was measured using the LI-3100 leaf area meter (Li-COR, Inc., Lincoln, NE). The stem diameter and leaf length were measured using a digital caliper and standard matric ruler respectively. The plant’s above-ground parts were removed, and the root system and soil media were carefully collected from each pot. This was washed using a gentle stream of water until the roots were clean. The roots were then carefully untangled using plastic forceps after placing them in a 400 cm long and 300 cm wide acrylic tray with 5 mm of water. This process helped in minimizing root overlap. Root images were captured using Epson Expression 11000XL scanner at 800 dpi resolution (Epson America, Inc., Long Beach, CA, USA). Images were analyzed by WinRHIZO Pro 2009C software (Regent Instruments, Inc., Québec, QC, Canada) to extract the number of root tips, root crossings, total root length, root surface area, and root volume.
All plant parts were separated and collected in separate bags. The samples were oven dried at 80˚C to ensure a constant weight. The dry weights of leaf, stem, and root were to summed to get the whole plant’s dry weight (g plant^-1). Plant height was measured using a standard matric ruler as the distance between the cotyledonary node to the topmost unfolded mainstem leaf.