Fig 1. Two dimensional distribution of root length density (RLD, cm/3000 cm3) of different maize varieties at silking (the upper six panels) and maturity (the bottom six panels) in 2009.
The roots were sampled in a soil volume of 60 cm (length, distance between rows of plants) × 30 cm (width, distance between plants within a row) × 60 cm (depth). Each 10×10 cm2 area was the projection of average RLD in the three 10×10×10 cm3 soil cubes across the width of the monolith. Maize varieties are indicated at the top right side and total root length per plant (m) in the whole 60×30×60 cm3 soil volume at both harvests are indicated at bottom right side in each panel, respectively. Data are mean values from 3 replicates of each genotype.