Water depletion and curves around roots and soil

To the left of the root, water is depleted from films around soil particles where pore space water is first pulled from large pore spaces and water in thin films is strong adsorbed to the soil particles and scarcely available to the plant. Mucilage helps stabilize the water gradient as it has been observed water content can increase near the root surface when mucilage is available. Water curves on right side show the water content in soil near the root surface without (top) and with (bottom) mucilage.

在根系左侧，土壤颗粒周围水膜中的水分被耗竭：孔隙水首先从大孔隙中被抽取，而薄水膜内的水分则强烈吸附于土壤颗粒表面，几乎无法被植物利用。黏胶（mucilage）有助于稳定水分梯度，已有研究观测到，当根系周围存在黏胶时，根表附近的土壤含水量会有所提升。右侧的水分曲线展示了根表附近土壤的含水量情况，其中上图为无黏胶时的结果，下图为有黏胶时的结果。