Plant roots dynamically modify their morphology and physiology to optimize nutrient acquisition in heterogeneous soil environments (Giehl et al. in J Exp Bot 65:769–778, 2014). Plants adapt root architecture through environmental sensing and genetic regulation for nutrient optimization (Kleinert et al. in Root Biol 52:85–142, 2018). As an essential element for plant growth, the distribution and effectiveness of nitrogen affects the growth of different types of roots (Xu et al. in Front Plant Sci 11:904 2020) Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) exhibits complex root system organization, yet its spatial responses to nitrate distribution remain poorly understood compared to the established model Arabidopsis thaliana (Viana et al. in Plant Cell Environ 45:602–619, 2022). Excessive application of nitrogen fertilizer reduces foxtail millet productivity and damages ecosystems (Jensen et al. in Agron Sustain Dev 40:5, 2020), so it is urgent to improve the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer use. In earlier studies in our lab, it was found that increasing nitrate levels at different times resulted in different expression in cereal seedlings (Meng et al. in Plant Mol Biol 114:1–19, 2024).
