Fractal Analysis of Plant Root Systems

The morphology of root systems of crop plants was analysed by fractal geometry using an image processing system. Results indicate that these root systems have a fractal structure (D; 1.48 ∼ 1.58) within a scale range measuring (0.28 ∼ 21 mm), implying that the intricacy of shape of the root systems is characterized by D, called fractal dimension. This suggests the possible application of the fractal analysis to the quantification of root system morphology.