14TSB_ATC_IR Exploiting novel canopy sensors for improved disease management, variety selection and resilience in wheat

在英国，小麦作物的商业化生产目前高度依赖于及时使用杀菌剂来优化产量，以及植物育种家开发具有抗病和抗非生物胁迫能力的改良品种。对于如何优化杀菌剂的投入以提高粮食产量，以及如何在田间快速和精确地测量植物健康以改善作物管理决策和植物育种中的选择效率，目前还缺乏足够的理解和知识。不断需要培育性能更好的作物，例如抗病性和耐旱性，以确保粮食供应在面对不断变化的环境时具有弹性。目前的瓶颈在于对性状（表型）进行实地发现和评估的能力，这目前是费力、耗时和低效的。因此，该项目将开发基于叶绿素荧光和高光谱成像系统的冠层传感器表型组学平台，这将允许对作物性能进行高通量和详细评估。叶绿素荧光信号（FP100 Fluorpen和多重探测探针华尔兹）将用于估计田间光合效率，为小麦的生物（Septoria）和非生物（干旱）胁迫提供早期信号。首先，该系统将在小麦“林分”的温室条件下开发，其次在田间（6个品种× 2个杀菌剂方案）开发，以便将这些与作物管理决策和育种选择联系起来。实地测量将包括：(i)为小麦Septoria tritici DNA定量开发的分子PCR测定，（ii）视觉疾病和（iii）破坏性收获的作物生长。我们还将开发高光谱冠层传感器签名，使成像能够跨越更宽的波长范围（300 -2300 nm）和更大的地块面积，并且具有比目前用于田间作物监测更高的吞吐量：使用安装在拖拉机上的高光谱相机的高通量自动化成像系统将用于生成完整田间试验（6个品种x 2个杀菌剂处理）的空间地图。数据集将被挖掘，以确定一个新的指标，从波长的子集预测关键性状，如冠层绿化面积，作物生物量和氮含量。实地测量将包括：(i)破坏性收获的作物生长，（ii）手持式高光谱测量（FieldSpecHandHeld 2 Pro (350-1075 nm), Analytik Ltd）和（iii）视觉疾病。这里的一个关键目标将是研究使用无人机（Oktocopter2）安装的航空成像传感器复制手工收集和拖拉机安装的高光谱数据集的可行性。表型平台将由农学家在验证试验（6个品种x 2个杀真菌剂方案；2个杀真菌剂方案x 6个杀真菌剂处理）中对三个地点（高Septoria，高干旱和控制）的作物决策优化进行验证，并由育种家在项目的一个地点进行品种选择。高通量冠层传感器（地面和空中）将作为决策工具进行测试，并为小麦预测农艺和育种的效率提供一个台阶变化，并为英国农民、加加工者和消费者改善小麦奠定基础。

Commercial production of wheat crops in the UK is currently highly dependent on timely applications of fungicides to optimise yield and the development of improved varieties by plant breeders with resilience to diseases and abiotic stresses. There is currently insufficient understanding and knowledge of how fungicide inputs can be optimised to grain yield and how plant health can be rapidly and precisely measured in the field to improve crop management decision-making and efficiency of selection in plant breeding. There is a continuous need to breed crops with improved performance, such as disease resistance and drought tolerance, to ensure food supplies are resilient in the face of a changing environment. The bottleneck is now in the ability to conduct field-based discovery and evaluation of traits (phenotyping), which are currently laborious, time-consuming and inefficient. The project will therefore develop canopy sensor phenomics platforms, based on chlorophyll fluorescence and hyperspectral imaging systems, which will allow a high throughput and detailed evaluation of crop performance. Chlorophyll fluorescence signatures (FP100 Fluorpen amd multiple detection probes Waltz) for estimating photosynthetic efficiency in the field will be developed to provide early signatures for biotic (Septoria) and abiotic (drought) stress on wheat. Firstly, this system will be developed in glasshouse conditions on 'stands' of wheat and secondly in-field (6 cultivars x 2 fungicide programmes) to relate these to crop management decisions and breeding selection. Ground-truthing measurements will include:(i) a molecular PCR assay developed for Septoria tritici DNA quantification, (ii) visual disease and (iii) crop growth by destructive harvesting.We will also develop hyperspectral canopy-sensor signatures to enable imaging across wider wavelength ranges (300 -2300 nm) and larger plot areas and with a higher throughput than is currently used for in-field crop monitoring: A high throughput, automated imaging system using a hyperspectral camera mounted on a tractor will be used to produce a spatial map of a complete field experiment (6 cultiars x 2 fungicide treatments). Data sets will be mined to identify a new metric from a subset of wavelengths predicting key traits, e.g. canopy green area, crop biomass and N content. Groundtruthing measurements will include: (i) crop growth by destructive harvesting, (ii) handheld hyperspectral measurements (FieldSpecHandHeld 2 Pro (350-1075 nm), Analytik Ltd) and (iii) visual disease. A key objective here will be to investigate the feasibility of replicating hand-collected and tractor mounted hyperspectral datasets using UAV (Oktocopter2) mounted sensors for aerial imaging.The phenotyping platforms will be validated by agronomists for optimised crop decision-making at three sites (high Septoria, high drought and control) in validation trials (6 cultivars x 2 fungicide programmes; 2 fungicide programmes x 6 fungicide treatments) and by breeders for varietal selections at one site in the project. The high-throughput canopy sensors (ground-based and aerial) will be tested as decision tools and provide a step change in the efficiency of wheat predictive agronomy and breeding and a basis for improving wheat for UK farmers, processors and consumers.