A Mathematical Description of Pollutant Uptake in Plants by Single Cylindrical Root

The classical model of plant root nutrient uptake given by Nye, Tinker and Barber is modified and extended for pollutant uptake in plants. An explicit closed mathematical description is given for the uptake, by a single cylindrical root for all cases of practical interest, by solving the absorption-diffusion equation for the soil pollutant concentration asymptotically in the limit of large time. This single root model can be used as a building block to construct a model for multiple root branching structure in a more realistic plant root system. The theoretical results derived analytically are compared with numerical results and experimental studies.