The degree to which roots branch determines their efficiency in water uptake and capturing nutrients water. Understanding how lateral roots are initiated and how they emerge is therefore vitally important to improving crop yields.

This research seeks to characterise the mechanisms of action at the molecular and cellular level for a selection of agrochemicals which enhance root growth, and the characterisation of the corresponding network controlling lateral root emergence.

This work requires an interdisciplinary approach combining signalling networks with biomechanics, using novel experimental and imaging techniques, and will have important potential pay-offs for food security.