Electrical impedance tomography as a tool for phenotyping plant roots

Abstract

Background Plant roots are complex, three-dimensional structures that play a central role in anchorage, water and nutrient acquisition, storage and interaction with rhizosphere microbes. Studying the development of the plant root system architecture is inherently difficult as soil is not a transparent medium. Results This study uses electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to visualise oilseed rape root development in horticultural compost. The development of healthy, control plants and those infected with the gall-forming pathogen, Plasmodiophora brassicae -the causative agent of clubroot disease-were compared. EIT measurements were used to quantify the development of the root system and distinguish between control and infected plants at the onset of gall formation, approximately 20 days after inoculation. Although clear and stark differences between healthy and infected plants were obtained by careful (and hence laborious) packing of the growth medium in layers within the pots; clubroot identification is still possible without a laborious vessel filling protocol. Conclusions These results demonstrate the utility of EIT as a low-cost, non-invasive, non-destructive method for characterising root system architecture and plant-pathogen interactions in opaque growth media. As such it offers advantages over other root characterisation techniques and has the potential to act as a low-cost tool for plant phenotyping.

Plant phenotyping relevance

EITによる根系構造の可視化・定量化手法を開発・実証しており、植物フェノタイピングが中心的な研究です。

Code and data availability

The paper's EIT phenotype datasets and analysis materials are not publicly deposited; the authors state they are available only on request. Supplementary files (Additional files 1-2) contain paper-specific conductivity measurements and root images but no public URL is provided in the supplied blocks.

No evidence-backed public reproduction asset is currently recorded.