Abstract
Soil structure influences the growth and activity of organisms living in soil. In return, microbes, fauna, and plants affect structure. The objective of this paper is to review the role of plants in modifying soil structure. Vegetation affects structural form and stability at different scales and through various direct and indirect mechanisms. By penetrating the soil, roots form macropores which favour fluid transport. They also create zones of failure which contribute to fragment the soil and form aggregates. This phenomenon is enhanced by the wetting and drying cycles associated with plant growth. Drying also causes shrinkage and strengthening of the soil. Anchorage of roots and the exudation of cementing material stabilizes soil structure. Finally, as a source of C, roots and plant residues provide a food source to the microflora and fauna which contribute to structure formation and stabilization. In return, plant-induced changes in structure will affect plant growth mostly by modifying the root physical environment, and the water and nutrient cycles.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angers DA (1992) Changes in soil aggregation and organic carbon under corn and alfalfa. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56: 1244-1249
Angers DA & Mehuys GR (1988) Effects of cropping on macroaggregation of a marine clay soil. Can. J. Soil Sci. 68: 723-732
Angers DA & Mehuys GR (1989) Effects of cropping on carbohydrate content and water-stable aggregation of a clay soil. Can. J. Soil Sci. 69: 373-380
Angers DA & Mehuys GR (1993) Aggregate stability to water. In: Carter MR (Ed) Chapter 61. Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis (pp 651-657). CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida
Angers DA, Kay BD & Groenevelt PH (1987) Compaction characteristics of a soil cropped to corn and bromegrass. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 51: 779-783
Angers DA, Recous S & Aita C (1997) Fate of carbon and nitrogen in water-stable aggregates during decomposition of 13C15N-labelled wheat straw in situ. Europ. J. Soil Sci. 48: 295-300
Barley KP (1954) Effects of root growth and decay on the permeability of a synthetic sandy loam. Soil Sci. 78: 205-211
Beven K & Germann P (1982) Macropores and water flow in soils. Water Resour. Res. 18: 1311-1325
Bowen GD & Rovira AD (1991) The rhizosphere. In: Waisel Y et al. (Ed) Plant Roots. The Hidden Half (pp 641-669). Marcel Dekker, New York
Bruand A, Cousin I, Nicoulland B, Duval O & Bégon JC (1996) Backscatter electron scanning images of soil porosity for analyzing soil compaction around roots. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 60: 895-901
Bui Huu Tri (1968) Dynamique de la granulation du sol sous prairie. Ann. Agron. 19: 415-439
Buyanovsky GA, Aslarn M & Wagner GH (1994) Carbon turnover in soil physical fractions. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 58: 1167-1173
Capriel P, Beck T, Borchert H & Harter P (1990) Relationship between soil aliphatic fraction extracted with supercritical hexane, soil microbial biomass, and soil aggregate stability. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 54: 415-420
Caron J. & Kay BD (1992) Rate of response of structural stability to a change in water content: influence of cropping history. Soil Till. Res. 25: 167-185
Caron J, Kay BD & Perfect E (1992a) Short term decrease in soil structural stability following bromegrass establishment on a clay loam soil. Plant Soil. 145: 121-130
Caron J, Kay BD & Stone JA (1992b) Modeling temporal changes in structural stability of a clay loam soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56: 1597-1604
Caron J, Kay BD & Stone JA (1992c) Improvement of structural stability of a clay loam with drying. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56: 1583-1590
Caron J, Banton O, Angers DA & Villeneneuve JP (1996a) Preferential bromide transport through a clay loam under alfalfa and corn. Geoderma 69: 175-191
Caron, J, Espindola CR & Angers DA (1996b) Soil structural stability during rapid wetting: influence of land use on some aggregate properties. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 60: 901-908
Carter MR, Angers DA & Kunelius HT (1994) Soil structural form and stability, and organic matter under cool-season perennial grasses. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 58: 1194-1199
Chan KY & Hodgson AS (1984) Moisture regimes of a cracking clay used for cotton production. Rev. Rural Sci. 5: 176-180
Chantigny MH, Angers DA, Prévost D, Vézina LP, Chalifour FP (1997) Soil aggregation, and fungal and bacterial biomass under annual and perennial cropping systems. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 61: 262-267
Clapp CE, Davis RJ & Waugaman SH (1962) The effect of rhizobial polysaccharides on aggregate stability. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 26: 466-469
Da Silva AP, Kay BD & Perfect E (1994) Characterization of the least limiting water range of soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 58: 1775-1781
Degens BP, Sparling GP & Abbott LK (1996) Increasing the length of hyphae in a sandy soil increases the amount of water-stable aggregates. Appl. Soil Ecol. 3: 149-159
Dexter AR (1987) Compression of soil around roots. Plant Soil 97: 401-406
Dexter AR (1991) Amelioration of soil by natural processes. Soil Till. Res. 20: 87-100
Dexter AR, Horn R & Kemper WD (1988) Two mechanisms of age hardening of soil. J. Soil Sci. 39: 163-175
Dinel H, Lévesque PEM, Jamby P & Righi D (1992) Microbial activity and long-chain aliphatics in the formation of stable soil aggregates. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56: 1455-1463
Dorioz JM, Robert M & Chenu C (1993) The role of roots, fungi and bacteria on clay particle organization. An experimental approach. Geoderma 56: 179-194
Dormaar JF & Foster RC (1991) Nascent aggregates in the rhizosphere of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenneL.). Can. J. Soil Sci. 71: 465-474
Drury CF, Stone JA & Findlay WI (1991) Microbial biomass and soil structure associated with corn, grasses, and legumes. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 55: 805-811
Dufey JE, Halen H & Frankart R (1986) Evolution de la stabilité structurale du sol sous l'influence des racines de trèfle (Trifolium pratenseL.) et de ray-grass (Lolium multiflorum Lmk.). Observations pendant et après culture. Agronomie 6: 811-817
Edwards AP & Bremner JM (1967) Domains and quasicrystalline regions in clay systems. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 35: 650-654
Edwards WM, Shipitalo MJ, Owens LB & Norton LD (1989) Water and nitrate movement in earthworm burrows within long-term no-till corn fields. J. Soil Water Cons. 44: 240-243
Ehlers W (1975) Observation on earthworm channels and infiltration on tilled and untilled loess soils. Soil Sci. 119: 242-249
Elliott ET (1986) Aggregate structure and carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in native and cultivated soils. Soil sci. Soc. Am. J. 50: 627-633
Elliott ET, Anderson RV, Coleman DC & Cole CV (1980) Habitable pore space and microbial trophic interactions. Oikos 35: 327-335
Forster SM (1990) The role of microorganisms in aggregate formation and soil stabilization: types of aggregation. Arid Soil Res. Rehabilitation 4: 85-98
Foster RC & Rovira AD (1976) Ultrastructure of wheat rhizosphere. New Phytol. 76: 343-352
Fox WE (1964) Cracking characteristics and field capacity in a swelling soil. Soil Sci. 98: 413
Gerard CJ, Mehta HC & Hinojosa E (1972) Root growth in a clay soil. Soil Sci. 114: 37-49
Gibbs RJ & Reid JB (1988) A conceptual model of changes in soil structure under different cropping systems. Adv. Soil Sci. 8: 123-149
Golchin A, Oades JM, Skjemstad JO & Clarke P (1994) Soil structure and carbon cycling. Aust. J. Soil Res. 32: 1043-1068
Goss MJ (1991) Consequences of the activity of roots on soil. In: Atkinson D (Ed) Plant Root Growth. An Ecological Perspective (pp 161-186). Special public. No. 10
Gouzou L, Burtin G, Philippy R, Bartoli F & Heulin T (1993) Effect of inoculation with Bacillus polymyxaon soil aggregation in the wheat rhizosphere: preliminary examination. Geoderma 56: 479-491
Grevers MCJ & De Jong E (1990) The characterization of soil macroporosity of a clay soil under ten grasses using image analysis. Can. J. Soil Sci. 70: 93-103
Guérif J (1979) Rôle de la matière organique sur le comportement d'un sol au compactage, II. Matières organiques libres et liées. Ann. Agron. 30: 469-480
Guidi G, Poggio G & Petruzelli G (1985) The porosity of soil aggregates from bulk soil and soil adhering to roots. Plant Soil 87: 311-314
Haynes RJ & Switt RS (1990) Stability of soil aggregates in relation to organic constituents and soil water. J. Soil Sci. 41: 73-83
Haynes RJ & Francis GS (1993) Changes in microbial biomass C, soil carbohydrates and aggregate stability induced by growth of selected crop and forage species under field conditions. J. Soil Sci. 44: 665-675
Horn R & Dexter AR (1989) Dynamics of soil aggregation in a desert loess. Soil Till. Res. 13: 253-266
Horn R, Taubner H, Wuttke M & Baumgartl T (1994) Soil physical properties related to soil structure. Soil Till. Res. 30: 187-216
Jakobsen BF & Dexter AR (1988) Influence of biopores on root growth, water uptake and grain yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum) based on predictions from a computer model. Biol. Fertil. Soils 6: 315-321
Jastrow JD (1987) Changes in soil aggregation associated with tallgrass prairie restoration. Amer. J. Bot. 74: 1656-1664
Jastrow JD (1996) Soil aggregate formation and the accrual of particulate and mineral-associated organic matter. Soil Biol. Biochem. 4–5: 665-676
Kay BD (1990) Rates of change of soil structure under different cropping systems. Adv. Soil Sci. 12: 1-52
Kemper WD & Rosenau RC (1984) Soil cohesion as affected by time and water content. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 48: 1001-1006
Kemper WD & Rosenau RC (1986) Aggregate stability and size distribution. In: Page AL (Ed) Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 1. Physical and Mineralogical Methods (pp 425-442). Agronomy no. 9. ASA. Madison WI
Kleinfelder D, Swanson S, Norris G & Clary W (1992) Unconfined compressive strength of some streambank soils with herbaceous roots. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56: 1920-1925
Ladd JN, Foster RC & Oades JM (1996) Soil structure and biological activity. In: Stotzky G & Bollag JM (Eds) Soil Biochemistry. Vol. 9. Marcel Dekker, New York
Lafond J, Angers DA & Laverdière MR (1992) Compression characteristics of a clay soil as influenced by crops and sampling dates. Soil Till. Res. 22: 233-241
Lafond J, Angers DA & Laverdière MR (1993) Water-stable macroaggregation in soils amended with various organic materials. In: Caron J & Angers DA (Eds) Proceedings of the Eastern Canada Soil Structure Workshop (pp 115-127). Université Laval, Canada
Le Bissonnais Y & Arrouyais D (1997) Aggregate stability and assessment of soil crustability and erodibility: II. Application to humic loamy soils with various organic carbon contents. Eur. J. Soil Sci. 48: 39-48
Letey J (1985) Relationship between physical properties and crop properties and crop productions. Adv. Soil Sci. 1: 277-294
Luxmoore RJ (1981) Micro, meso and macroporosity of soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 45: 671-672
Marinissen JCY, Nijhuis E & van Breemen N (1996) Clay dispersability in moist earthworm casts of different soils. Appl. Soil Ecol. 4: 83-92
Marinissen JCY & Dexter AR (1990) Mechanisms of stabilization in earthworm casts and artificial casts. Biol. Fertil. Soils 9: 163-167
Materechera SA, Dexter AR & Alston AM (1992) Formation of aggregates by plant roots in homogenised soils. Plant Soil 142: 69-79
Materechera SA, Kirby JM, Alston AM & Dexter AR (1994) Modification of soil aggregation by watering regime and roots growing through beds of large aggregates. Plant Soil 160: 57-66
Meek BD, Rechel EA, Carter LM & DeTar WR (1989) Changes ininfiltration under alfalfa as influences by time and wheel traffic. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 53: 238-241
Meek BD, DeTar WR, Rolph D, Rechel ER & Carter LM (1990) Infiltration rate as affected by an alfalfa and no-till cotton cropping system. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 54: 505-508
Miller RM & Jastrow JD (1990) Hierarchy of root and mycorrhizal fungal interactions with soil aggregation. Soil Biol. Biochem. 5: 579-584
Mitchell AR & van Genuchten MT (1992) Shrinkage of bare and cultivated soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56: 1036-1042
Mitchell AR, Ellsworth TR & Meek BD (1995) Effect of root systems on preferential flow in swelling soil. Commun. Soil Sci. Pl. Anal. 26: 2655-2666
Morel JL, Habib L, Plantureux S & Guckert A (1991) Influence of maize root mucilage on soil aggregate stability. Plant Soil 136: 111-119
Oades JM (1984) Soil organic matter and structural stability mechanisms and implications for management. Plant Soil 76: 319-337
Oades JM (1993) The role of biology in the formation, stabilization and degradation of soil structure. Geoderma 56: 377-400
Oades JM & Waters AG (1991) Aggregate hierarchy in soils. Aust. J. Soil Res. 29: 815-828
Pojasok T & Kay BD (1990) Effect of root exudates from corn and bromegrass on soil structural stability. Can. J. Soil Sci. 70: 351-362
Ravina I (1983) The influence of vegetation on moisture and volume changes. Géotechnique 33: 151-157
Rawitz E, Hadas A Etkin H & Margolin M (1994) Short-term variations of soil physical properties as a function of the amounts and C/N ratio of decomposing cotton residues. II. Soil compressibility, water retention and hydraulic conductivity. Soil Till. Res. 32: 199-212
Reid JB, Goss MJ & Robertson PD (1982) Relationships between the decreases in soil stability effected by the growth of maize roots and changes in organically bound iron and aluminium. J. Soil Sci. 33: 397-410
Reid JB & Goss MJ (1981) Effect of living roots of different plant species on the aggregate stability of two arable soils. J. Soil Sci. 32: 521-541
Roberson, EB, Sarig S, Shennan C & Firestone MK (1995) Nutritional management of microbial polysaccharide production and aggregation in an agricultural soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 59: 1587-1594
Roberson EB, Sarig S & Firestone MK (1991) Cover crop management of polysaccharide-mediated aggregation in an orchard soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 55: 734-739
Rovira AD & Greacen EL (1957) The effect of aggregate disruption on the activity of microorganisms in soil. Aust. J. Soil Res. 8: 659-673
Russell EW (1973) Soil Conditions and Plant Growth. Longman, London, p 37
Semmel H, Horn R, Hell U, Dexter AR & Schulze ED (1990) The dynamics of soil aggregate formation and the effect on soil physical properties. Soil Technology 3: 113-129
Shipitalo MJ & Protz R (1988) Factors influencing the dispersibility of clay in worm casts. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 52: 764-769
Shipitalo MJ, Protz R & Tomlin AD (1988) Effect of diet on the feeding and casting activity of Lumbricus terrestrisand L. Rubellusin laboratory cultures. Soil Biol. Biochem. 20: 233-237.
Soane BD (1990) The role of organic matter in soil compactibility: a review of some practical aspects. Soil Till. Res. 16: 179-201
Sorensen LH (1974) Rate of decomposition of organic matter in soil as influenced by repeated drying-rewetting and repeated additions of organic matter. Soil Biol. Biochem. 6: 287-292
Stone JA & Buttery BR (1989) Nine forages and the aggregation of a clay loam soil. Can. J. Soil Sci. 69: 165-169.
Sutton JC &, Sheppard BR (1976) Aggregation of sand dune soil by endomycorrhizal fungi. Can. J. Bot. 54: 326-333
Thomas RS, Dakessian S, Ames RN, Brown MS & Bethlenfalvay GJ (1986) Aggregation of a silty loam soil by mycorrhizal onion roots. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 50: 1494-1499
Thomas RS, Franson RL & Bethlenfalvay GJ (1993) Separation of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus and root effects on soil aggregation. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 57: 77-81
Tisdall JM, Cockroft B & Uren NC (1978) The stability of soil aggregates as affected by organic materials, microbial activity and physical disruption. Aust. J. Soil Res. 16: 9-17
Tisdall JM & Oades JM (1979) Stabilization of soil aggregates by the root systems of ryegrass. Aust. J. Soil Res. 17: 429-441
Tisdall JM & Oades JM (1982) Organic matter and water-stable aggregates. J. Soil Sci. 33: 141-163
Van Noordwijk M, Schoonderbeek D & Kooistra MJ (1993) Root-soil contact of field-grown wheat. Geoderma 56: 277-286
Van Wesenbeek I & Kachanoski RG (1988) Spatial and temporal distribution of soil water in the tilled layer under a corn crop. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 52: 363-368
Waldron LJ & Dakessian S (1982) Effect of grass, legume, and tree roots on soil shearing resistance. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. 46: 894-899
Waldron LJ, Dakessian S & Nemson JA (1983) Shear resistance enhancement of 1.22-meter diameter soil cross sections by pine and alfalfa roots. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. 47: 9-14
Wright SF & Upadhyaya A (1996) Extraction of an abundant and unusual protein from soil and comparison with hyphal protein of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Soil Sci. 161: 575-586
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Angers, D.A., Caron, J. Plant-induced Changes in Soil Structure: Processes and Feedbacks. Biogeochemistry 42, 55–72 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005944025343
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005944025343