Automated characterization of the mature root system form by a double-quadrangle-shaped polygon

Many rainfed wheat production systems are reliant on stored soil water for some or all of their water inputs. Selection and breeding for root traits could result in a yield benefit; however, breeding for root traits has traditionally been avoided due to the difficulty of phenotyping mature root systems, limited understanding of root system development and function, and the strong influence of environmental conditions on the phenotype of the mature root system. This paper outlines an international field selection program for beneficial root traits at maturity using soil coring in India and Australia. In the rainfed areas of India, wheat is sown at the end of the monsoon into hot soils with a quickly receding soil water profile; in season water inputs are minimal. We hypothesised that wheat selected and bred for high yield under these conditions would have deep, vigorous root systems, allowing them to access and utilise the stored soil water at depth around anthesis and grain-filling when surface layers were dry. The Indian trials resulted in 49 lines being sent to Australia for phenotyping. These lines were ranked against 41 high yielding Australian lines. Variation was observed for deep root traits e.g. in eastern Australia in 2012, maximum depth ranged from 118.8 to 146.3 cm. There was significant variation for root traits between sites and years, however, several Indian genotypes were identified that consistently ranked highly across sites and years for deep rooting traits.

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Characterization of Root and Shoot Traits in Wheat Cultivars with Putative Differences in Root System Size

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy8070109 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (7) ◽

pp. 109 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Victoria Figueroa-Bustos ◽

Jairo Palta ◽

Yinglong Chen ◽

Kadambot Siddique

Keyword(s):

Root System ◽

System Size ◽

Wheat Cultivars ◽

Root System Size ◽

Root And Shoot Traits

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In situ Phenotyping of Grapevine Root System Architecture by 2D or 3D Imaging: Advantages and Limits of Three Cultivation Methods

Frontiers in Plant Science ◽

10.3389/fpls.2021.638688 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Yuko Krzyzaniak ◽

Frédéric Cointault ◽

Camille Loupiac ◽

Eric Bernaud ◽

Frédéric Ott ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Root System ◽

Adventitious Root ◽

Production Systems ◽

Imaging Techniques ◽

Root Traits ◽

Automated Analysis ◽

Root System Architecture ◽

Neutron Tomography

The root system plays an essential role in the development and physiology of the plant, as well as in its response to various stresses. However, it is often insufficiently studied, mainly because it is difficult to visualize. For grapevine, a plant of major economic interest, there is a growing need to study the root system, in particular to assess its resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, understand the decline that may affect it, and identify new ecofriendly production systems. In this context, we have evaluated and compared three distinct growing methods (hydroponics, plane, and cylindric rhizotrons) in order to describe relevant architectural root traits of grapevine cuttings (mode of grapevine propagation), and also two 2D- (hydroponics and rhizotron) and one 3D- (neutron tomography) imaging techniques for visualization and quantification of roots. We observed that hydroponics tubes are a system easy to implement but do not allow the direct quantification of root traits over time, conversely to 2D imaging in rhizotron. We demonstrated that neutron tomography is relevant to quantify the root volume. We have also produced a new automated analysis method of digital photographs, adapted for identifying adventitious roots as a feature of root architecture in rhizotrons. This method integrates image segmentation, skeletonization, detection of adventitious root skeleton, and adventitious root reconstruction. Although this study was targeted to grapevine, most of the results obtained could be extended to other plants propagated by cuttings. Image analysis methods could also be adapted to characterization of the root system from seedlings.

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A simple high efficiency and low cost in vitro growth system for phenotypic characterization and seed propagation of Arabidopsis thaliana

10.1101/2020.08.23.263491 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Taras Pasternak ◽

Benedetto Ruperti ◽

Klaus Palme

Keyword(s):

Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽

Plant Growth ◽

Root System ◽

Optimal Growth ◽

Soil Conditions ◽

Plant Responses ◽

Phenotypic Analysis ◽

Whole Life Cycle

ABSTRACTBackgroundArabidopsis research relies extensively on the use of in vitro growth for phenotypic analysis of the seedlings and characterization of plant responses to intrinsic and extrinsic cues. For this purpose, stress-free optimal growth conditions should be set up and used as a reference especially in studies aimed at characterizing the plant responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. Currently used standard in vitro protocols for growth and characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana plants often suffer from sub-optimal composition due to an excessively high nutritional content which represents a stress per se and an experimental bias.ResultsWe describe a simple protocol for in vitro growth of Arabidopsis plants in which the phenotypic analysis is based on an optimized and nutritionally balanced culture medium. We show that the protocol is robustly applicable for growth of several Arabidopsis mutants, including mutants lacking the root system. This protocol enables rapid high scale seed production in vitro avoiding soil usage while saving space and time. The optimized in vitro protocol aims at: 1) making in vitro growth as close as possible to natural soil conditions by optimizing nutrient balance in the medium; 2) simplifying phenotypic and molecular investigation of individual plants by standardizing all steps of plant growth; 3) enabling seeds formation also in genotypes with severe defect in the root system; 4) minimizing the amount of waste and space for plant growth by avoiding soil usage.ConclusionsHere we report an optimized protocol for optimal growth of Arabidopsis thaliana plants to avoid biases in phenotypic observation of abiotic/biotic stress experiments. The protocol also enables the completion of the whole life cycle in vitro within 40-45 days and a satisfactory seed set for further propagation with no need for facilities for plant growth in soil and seed sterilisation.

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