Plant Survival under Drought: Water Vapor Uptake in Sandy Soils

30. September 2025

Foto: UHH/IfB/S. Sekhri

Simran Sekhri, Volker Kleinschmidt, Annette Eschenbach and Joscha N. Becker from the Institute of Soil Science, Universität Hamburg, recently published their paper “Water Vapor from deep soil reservoirs as a viable water source for plants in sandy soils” in Soil & Tillage Research. The study investigates how plants in sandy soils can make use of water vapor as a supplementary water source when liquid water flow is restricted due to the formation of dry soil layers.

To explore this process, the team conducted controlled column experiments with Vigna radiata, applying deuterium labelling to trace water vapor movement. They found that plants with access to water vapor survived longer under drought conditions and that the addition of mulch significantly enhanced this effect by reducing evaporation losses. These results highlight a lesser-known pathway of plant water uptake and suggest that management practices such as mulching can help improve crop resilience in semi-arid regions.