Root architecture is linked to drought resistance, anchoring, and nutrient uptake. Therefore, matching root architecture to the correct environmental conditions has a high potential to improve yield.
To study root architecture, we are developing an aeroponic system at NIAB. Aeroponics is a system where plants are grown in an air and fine mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium. One of the key advantages of this system is that root architecture is not obscured by soil or a growth medium. This allows us photographic access to the full architecture as a method of non-destructive data sampling through time.
To complement the aeroponics system we are currently building, we would like to develop a low-cost, 3D digital photography imaging platform. The platform will be designed to capture a high level of root structure detail from which a high-resolution point cloud will be constructed using structure-from-motion technology. This point cloud will then be used to quantify, the number of roots, the root length, volume, surface area, growth rate as well as the development of canopy structure.
We believe the root and shoot imaging platform could be adopted by the wider research community as a standard tool for phenotyping root and shoot architecture and will ultimately help researchers investigate the genetics that underpin these plant structures.
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