Review of applying X-ray computed tomography for imaging soil-root physical and biological processes

Root growth process in soils has long been a matter of interest to soil and plant scientists. However the opaque nature of the soil has been a barrier to most research attempts aimed at unraveling the full root-soil processes. The traditional method of separating the roots from the growth media which is common practice tends to be destructive and defeats the purpose of such studies. It is ineffective in monitoring the interactions within the soil medium and as a result, a fast non-destructive technique is preferred. However, with computing and technological advancements, X-ray computed tomography (CT) has been found to be capable of meeting this need by imaging the processes which are of interest to researchers. Over the past three-four decades, the applications of the technology for imaging soil-root studies have attracted the researchers’ widespread interests and the future looks more promising. The purpose of this review is to present an overview of CT applications in imaging root-soil processes. The main focus is on the use of soil-root interface researches and the way forward for such non-destructive analyses.