Assistant professor of chemical engineering earns $298,000 USDA-NIFA grant to study how plant roots redistribute water
Published: Jan 23, 2026 10:15 AM
By Joe McAdory
How do plants survive when water is unevenly distributed in soil? Why do some crops appear to help neighboring plants thrive under extreme conditions? And how can farmers use that knowledge to improve crop performance?
Jean‑François Louf, assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, is addressing those questions with support from a $298,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA).
Louf’s two-year project, “Mechanistic Understanding of Plant Hydraulic Redistribution Using Transparent Substrates for Enhanced Water Use Efficiency in Soy and Peanut Crops,” focuses on a little-seen but powerful process called hydraulic redistribution: how plant roots move water through soil to support growth.
“Plants don’t just take up water and keep it,” Louf said. “They actively move water through their root systems, redistributing it from wetter areas of the soil to drier ones. That process can make a big difference in how plants grow and survive.”
Scientists have known about hydraulic redistribution for decades but studying it has been difficult because soil blocks direct observation.
“Soil is opaque,” Louf said. “You can’t see the roots. You can’t see where the water goes, how fast it moves, or how far it travels.”
To overcome that challenge, Louf developed a transparent substrate made of hydrogel beads that mimic key physical properties of soil. When hydrated, the beads become clear, allowing researchers to observe root growth and track water movement in real time.
“With this system, we can finally see what’s happening underground,” Louf said. “We can measure how efficiently roots redistribute water and identify which root traits make that process more effective.”
Plants can move water both vertically and laterally through soil, depending on environmental conditions. Deep-rooted plants can access water stored deeper underground and redistribute it upward, while shallow-rooted plants may help move excess water downward under wetter conditions.
“Farmers have observed for generations that crops with different root depths can support one another,” Louf said. “If you plant them together, they often perform better — but until now, that knowledge has been based largely on experience.”
Louf’s research aims to turn those observations into predictive understanding.
“Knowing that something works is not the same as knowing why it works,” he said. “If we want to optimize planting strategies or improve crop performance, we need to be able to model and predict these interactions.”
The project focuses on soybeans and peanuts, two economically important, rain-fed crops widely grown in the southeastern United States. Louf is studying different cultivars, varieties within each species, with distinct root architectures.
“The goal is to determine which root traits lead to more effective water redistribution and which combinations of plants work best together,” he said. “That information could help farmers make more informed planting decisions.”
The USDA-NIFA award builds on Louf’s growing national profile. In 2025, he received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for a separate project exploring how flowers process acoustic signals to increase nectar sugar concentration.
“Whether we’re studying roots, flowers, or materials inspired by plants, the common thread is understanding how physical mechanisms drive biological function,” Louf said.
Beyond its scientific and agricultural implications, Louf sees the project as an opportunity to train students to think differently.
“You get to teach students how to think as engineers: how to ask questions, build systems and test ideas quantitatively,” he said.
Louf said the broader reward comes from creating knowledge that endures.
“When you see that your work could be useful for people, when it can help farmers or improve how we grow food, that’s incredibly fulfilling,” he said. “That’s why we do this job.”
Media Contact: , jem0040@auburn.edu, 334.844.3447
Jean-François Louf is using transparent, soil-like substrates to directly observe how plant roots redistribute water underground — a hidden process that could help farmers improve crop performance under uneven and extreme moisture conditions.
