Root morphology of wild type and transgenic plants.

Maize seedlings were cultured in SP (1,000 µMKH2PO4) nutrient solution for 20 days, then divided into two groups and grown separately in SP and LP (5 µM KH2PO4) nutrient solutions for an additional 25 days. DS, dry shoot; ALLR, average length of lateral roots and EASA, effective absorptive surface area. Values are means ± SD (n = 5).*indicates statistically significant differences between transgenic lines and the wild type line under the same conditions at the 0.05 level, using Student's t-test. WT, wild type; L1, L2 and L3, transgenic lines; SP, sufficient phosphate (nutrient solution containing 1,000 µM KH2PO4); LP, low phosphate (nutrient solution containing 5 µM KH2PO4).