Developing field-based phenotyping platforms for canola

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The main purpose of this project is to develop field-based phenotyping (FBP) mobile platforms for Canola crop for rapid assessment of multiple quantitative plant traits. The objective is to develop platforms to be attached to a tractor or an existing wheeled mobile robot developed by PI. Proximal sensing tools and GPS referencing will be integrated to utilize mobile platforms that are low cost, flexible, and applicable to contrasting crop species. A key concept for this research is to integrate streams of data from multiple sensors to increase both the accuracy and number of traits that can be quantified for field grown plants. The developed FBP system, and associated algorithms will be applied to examine multiple quantitative traits in canola. The field platform will**be designed, fabricated, and tested in a laboratory setting and evaluated in crop breeding nurseries of Cargill in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba. Upon successful testing, the platform will be used in breeding and research applications. Automation of manual breeding process, sensor selection, and mobile robot navigation in canola breeding setting are part of this project.**The milestones for this project are: 1. Test of the 1st generation boom; 2. Developing software for data management; 3. Development and test of the 2nd generation boom; 4. Development and test of the 3rd generation boom; 5. Vibration control of the booms; 6. Automation of navigation of the system; 7. Writing papers/reports.**The results will be published in technical journals and will be presented in technical conferences.**Upon completion of this project some of the most popular high-throughput phenotyping features will be used automatically to achieve precision phenotype in crop plants. The focus of this project will be on canola because of their importance for Saskatchewan/Alberta/Canada economy.