Determining if a root is dead

[Ross Koning]

At 3:09 PM 2/11/99, Bruce K. Kirchoff wrote:
>Does anyone know of a vital stain that would help me determine if a root
>is dead? I have been asked to give my professional opinion (I am am
>plant morphologist/anatomist) on whether a root mass growing (and
>clogging) a sewer is dead. It was treated with a standard herbicide
>about 6 months ago. Based on it's external appearance the roots appear
>dead, but, as there is a considerable amount of money involved in this
>project, I have been asked to give my professional opinion. Can anyone
>help me? Does anyone know a definitive test for living tissue?
>
>        Thanks.
>
>        Bruce Kirchoff
>        University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
>        kirchoff at uncg.edu

Hi Bruce!

WOW it has been FOREVER !  I hope things are going well for you.

My suggestion is to try a tetrazolium test on some fresher
looking areas...it basically tests for respiratory metabolism.

Cellular metabolism also prevents uptake of Evans Blue dye,
so living cells should exclude it.

ross

 _________________________________
( )_______________________________)
 \ Ross Koning                     \
  \ Biology Department              \
   \ Eastern CT State University     \
    \ Willimantic, CT  06226  USA     \
     \ Koning at ecsu.ctstateu.edu        \
      \ http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu \
       \ Phone: 860-465-5327             \
        ) Fax: 860-465-5213               )
       /_________________________________/