Göttingen Rhizolab

Göttingen Rhizolab

The Göttingen Rhizolab is an outdoor research facility in the Experimental Botanical Garden of the University that was established in 2005 in order to allow for monitoring and experimental manipulations of the rhizosphere of woody plants. The Rhizolab consists of eight drained plant containers (180 cm length × 180 cm width × 220 cm depth) placed in two rows that allows access to the belowground part of the containers from two sides. The Rhizolab has a large mobile roof that automatically covers the plant containers when it rains thus allowing control of soil water of the experiments. It enables experimental investigations e.g. of the response of young trees to differences in soil nutrient and/or water conditions not only on the basis of aboveground plant organs, but also at the level of the root system.