Roots play an important role in the growth and development of plants,as well as ecosystem functioning and carbon cycle processes.Contemporary methods for evaluating root parameters such as diameter,biomass,spatial distribution and three dimensional architecture are time-consuming,labor intensive,and destructive to the roots.The Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a relatively new geophysical method with applicability to plant root studies with unique advantages over traditional approaches.This article first introduces the principles of GPR as related to plant roots detection,and then reviews existing researches concerning the application of GPR to plant root mapping,root diameter and biomass estimation.The main factors affecting GPR efficacy for plant root detection are discussed from different aspects including the GPR system,plant root characteristics,soil physicochemical properties,and so on.Future research should focus on studying into the mechanisms of detecting plant roots using GPR and improving the ability of GPR to detect plant roots under field conditions,with purpose to fully explore the potential of GPR in plant root detection.