Recent advances in methods for in situ root phenotyping

PeerJ

article

Anchang Li¹  Lingxiao Zhu²  Wenjun Xu¹  Liantao Liu²  Guifa Teng¹ 

[1] School of Information Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultrual University;State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation, Hebei Agricultrual University

关键词: Root;    Phenotyping;    Image analysis;    in situ;    High-throughput;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.13638

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Roots assist plants in absorbing water and nutrients from soil. Thus, they are vital to the survival of nearly all land plants, considering that plants cannot move to seek optimal environmental conditions. Crop species with optimal root system are essential for future food security and key to improving agricultural productivity and sustainability. Root systems can be improved and bred to acquire soil resources efficiently and effectively. This can also reduce adverse environmental impacts by decreasing the need for fertilization and fresh water. Therefore, there is a need to improve and breed crop cultivars with favorable root system. However, the lack of high-throughput root phenotyping tools for characterizing root traits in situ is a barrier to breeding for root system improvement. In recent years, many breakthroughs in the measurement and analysis of roots in a root system have been made. Here, we describe the major advances in root image acquisition and analysis technologies and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Furthermore, we look forward to the future development direction and trend of root phenotyping methods. This review aims to aid researchers in choosing a more appropriate method for improving the root system.

【 授权许可】

CC BY