Recent advances in methods for in situ root phenotyping

Abstract

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.

Plant phenotyping relevance

根系表型方法の画像取得・解析技術を体系的にレビューしており、植物フェノタイピング手法が中心である。

Code and data availability

This is a review article surveying in situ root phenotyping methods and image analysis software. It reports no original plant-phenotyping measurements, datasets, images, or author-developed analysis code. All listed URLs point to third-party software tools (e.g., DART, GLO-RIA, rhizoTrak, RootNav) described in a survey

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