GROWSCREEN-Rhizo is a novel phenotyping robot enabling simultaneous measurements of root and shoot growth for plants grown in soil-filled rhizotrons
GROWSCREEN-Rhizo is a novel phenotyping robot enabling simultaneous measurements of root and shoot growth for plants grown in soil-filled rhizotrons
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DOI：
10.1071/fp12023
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发表时间：
2012-01-01
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Schurr, Ulrich
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Nagel, Kerstin A.;Putz, Alexander;Schurr, Ulrich
根系在确保植物生产力方面发挥着重要作用。在受控环境和模拟模型中进行的实验表明，应优先研究根系几何形状和根系结构对环境因素的响应。然而，与地上植物器官相比，根部不易通过非侵入性分析获得，现场研究仍然几乎完全基于手动、破坏性方法。为了缩小实验室和现场实验之间的差距，我们提出了一种新型表型分析系统（GROWSCREEN-Rhizo），该系统能够自动对生长在充满土壤的根管（体积约为 18 L）中的植物的根和芽进行成像，每小时的吞吐量为 60 个根管。在此设置中生长的植物的分析仅限于一定的植物尺寸（茎高可达 80 厘米，根系深度可达 90 厘米）。我们使用六种不同的物种进行了验证实验，对于大麦和玉米，我们研究了适度土壤压实的影响，这是该领域的相关因素。首先，我们发现通过根管透明板可见的根系部分代表了总根系。可见根的百分比随着所研究植物物种的平均根直径的增加而减少，并且在某种程度上取决于环境条件。其次，我们可以测量土壤压实度适度增加引起的根系结构相对较小的变化。总而言之，这些发现证明了该方法具有良好的潜力，可以以相对较高的空间精度和分辨率来表征单子叶和双子叶物种的根几何形状和时间生长响应。我们的原型将允许设计模拟与该领域相关的环境场景的高通量筛选方法，并将支持育种工作，以提高资源利用效率和作物产量的稳定性。
Root systems play an essential role in ensuring plant productivity. Experiments conducted in controlled environments and simulation models suggest that root geometry and responses of root architecture to environmental factors should be studied as a priority. However, compared with aboveground plant organs, roots are not easily accessible by non-invasive analyses and field research is still based almost completely on manual, destructive methods. Contributing to reducing the gap between laboratory and field experiments, we present a novel phenotyping system (GROWSCREEN-Rhizo), which is capable of automatically imaging roots and shoots of plants grown in soil-filled rhizotrons (up to a volume of similar to 18 L) with a throughput of 60 rhizotrons per hour. Analysis of plants grown in this setup is restricted to a certain plant size (up to a shoot height of 80 cm and root-system depth of 90 cm). We performed validation experiments using six different species and for barley and maize, we studied the effect of moderate soil compaction, which is a relevant factor in the field. First, we found that the portion of root systems that is visible through the rhizotrons' transparent plate is representative of the total root system. The percentage of visible roots decreases with increasing average root diameter of the plant species studied and depends, to some extent, on environmental conditions. Second, we could measure relatively minor changes in root-system architecture induced by a moderate increase in soil compaction. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the good potential of this methodology to characterise root geometry and temporal growth responses with relatively high spatial accuracy and resolution for both monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous species. Our prototype will allow the design of high-throughput screening methodologies simulating environmental scenarios that are relevant in the field and will support breeding efforts towards improved resource use efficiency and stability of crop yields.