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.