With climate change and global population growth, accelerating the breeding of superior crop varieties is essential for food security. Genomic prediction, which uses genome-wide genetic markers to predict crop traits, plays an important role in intelligent crop breeding. However, existing methods often lack stable and accurate performance across crops and traits. Here, we propose GEG2P, a genetic algorithm-based ensemble learning method for genotype-to-phenotype prediction, integrates 20 base learners, dynamically selects their combinations through an iterative optimization strategy, and optimizes their weights using the genetic algorithm. Compared with the best-performing single base learners, GEG2P improves prediction accuracy by 4.02% on average across maize, wheat, rice, chickpea, and soybean. We use SHAP to quantify the contribution of SNPs to phenotype prediction and find that SNPs with large effects captured by different base learners are functionally complementary. This study provides a robust and accurate genomic prediction method for crop breeding.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods作物形質の遺伝子型から表現型を予測するアンサンブル計算法を開発し、複数作物で精度比較・検証しており、表現型推定手法が研究の中心である。
abstractHere, we propose GEG2P, a genetic algorithm-based ensemble learning method for genotype-to-phenotype prediction, integrates 20 base learners, dynamically selects their combinations through an iterative optimization strategy, and optimizes their weights using the genetic algorithm.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper provides public author code (GitHub GEG2P repository and Docker Hub image), a Zenodo deposit of significant SNP interaction pairs generated in this study, and a Figshare link with the wheat genotypic and phenotypic data used in the analyses. These are paper-specific, publicly available, and actionable.Code · publicScripts used in this study are available at GitHub [ https://github.com/Deep-Breeding/GEG2P ] 89 .Open asset ↗GitHub · Deep-Breeding/GEG2Plines:236-266Dataset · publicThe genotypic and phenotypic data of wheat are available at Figshare [ https://figshare.com/s/287c2c7f1623008487a5 ] 68 .Open asset ↗Figsharelines:236-266Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 13 Sept 2026
Crop yield potential in breeding trials can be captured using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based multispectral imagery. Several digital traits or phenotypes such as vegetation indices can represent canopy crop vigor and overall plant health, which can be used to evaluate differences in performance across varieties in crop breeding programs. This dataset contains agronomic data for named cultivars and breeding lines of spring-sown dry pea and chickpea, and over 275 multispectral images from advanced and preliminary breeding trials. The breeding trials were located at three locations in the "Palouse" region of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho of the United States across 2017, 2018 and 2019 cropping seasons. The multispectral images were captured using a UAV integrated with a 5-band multispectral camera at multiple time points from early vegetative growth through pod development stages during each cropping season. This dataset details seed yield information from trials of dry peas and chickpea that were obtained from each location, as well as additional agronomic and phenological data recorded at one location (mostly Pullman, WA) for each cropping season. The dataset also includes 20-78 megabytes (MB) Tagged Image Format (TIF) uncalibrated stitched orthomosaic images generated from the photogrammetric software. The images can be processed using any convenient image processing algorithm to obtain vegetation indices and other useful information.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsUAVマルチスペクトル画像と抽出可能なデジタル形質を含む、育種利用可能な植物表現型データセットとして構築・公開されているため。
abstractThis dataset contains agronomic data for named cultivars and breeding lines of spring-sown dry pea and chickpea, and over 275 multispectral images from advanced and preliminary breeding trials.
Reproduction assets foundThis Data in Brief article describes its own pulse crop phenotyping dataset (agronomic trait tables and 275 UAV multispectral orthomosaic images), publicly deposited on Zenodo with an explicit DOI listed in the Specification Table under Data accessibility. This is a paper-specific, public, directly actionable dataset.Dataset · publicData accessibility
Repository name: Zenodo
Data identification number: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8280431 .Open asset ↗Zenodo · 10.5281/zenodo.8280431lines:1-49Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Europe PMC · checked 7 Sept 2026
Phytophthora root rot (PRR) is a major constraint to chickpea production in Australia. Management options for controlling the disease are limited to crop rotation and avoiding high risk paddocks for planting. Current Australian cultivars have partial PRR resistance, and new sources of resistance are needed to breed cultivars with improved resistance. Field- and glasshouse-based PRR resistance phenotyping methods are labour intensive, time consuming, and provide seasonally variable results; hence, these methods limit breeding programs’ abilities to screen large numbers of genotypes. In this study, we developed a new space saving (400 plants/m2), rapid (<12 days), and simplified hydroponics-based PRR phenotyping method, which eliminated seedling transplant requirements following germination and preparation of zoospore inoculum. The method also provided post-phenotyping propagation all the way through to seed production for selected high-resistance lines. A test of 11 diverse chickpea genotypes provided both qualitative (PRR symptoms) and quantitative (amount of pathogen DNA in roots) results demonstrating that the method successfully differentiated between genotypes with differing PRR resistance. Furthermore, PRR resistance hydroponic assessment results for 180 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) were correlated strongly with the field-based phenotyping, indicating the field phenotype relevance of this method. Finally, post-phenotyping high-resistance genotypes were selected. These were successfully transplanted and propagated all the way through to seed production; this demonstrated the utility of the rapid hydroponics method (RHM) for selection of individuals from segregating populations. The RHM will facilitate the rapid identification and propagation of new PRR resistance sources, especially in large breeding populations at early evaluation stages.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods植物の根腐病抵抗性を評価する高速・高スループット水耕フェノタイピング法を開発し、遺伝子型間識別と圃場評価との相関で検証しているため、方法が研究の中心です。
abstractwe developed a new space saving (400 plants/m2), rapid (<12 days), and simplified hydroponics-based PRR phenotyping method
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's supplementary materials (MDPI S1) contain paper-specific phenotyping images (post-phenotyping propagation, genotype symptom comparisons, hydroponics setup, growth stages) and a workflow flow chart, publicly downloadable. The underlying phenotype datasets are only 'available if requested', so they do not yetSupplement · publicThe following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/plants12234069/s1 , Figure S1: Phenotypic differences between (a) plants at the time of transplanting to potting mix post-phenotyping E1 and (b) 5 weeks later showing growth and pod developmentOpen asset ↗lines:235-249Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 9 Sept 2026
This study tested whether machine learning (ML) methods can effectively separate individual plants from complex 3D canopy laser scans as a prerequisite to analyzing particular plant features. For this, we scanned mung bean and chickpea crops with PlantEye (R) laser scanners. Firstly, we segmented the crop canopies from the background in 3D space using the Region Growing Segmentation algorithm. Then, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based ML algorithms were fine-tuned for plant counting. Application of the CNN-based (Convolutional Neural Network) processing architecture was possible only after we reduced the dimensionality of the data to 2D. This allowed for the identification of individual plants and their counting with an accuracy of 93.18% and 92.87% for mung bean and chickpea plants, respectively. These steps were connected to the phenotyping pipeline, which can now replace manual counting operations that are inefficient, costly, and error-prone. The use of CNN in this study was innovatively solved with dimensionality reduction, addition of height information as color, and consequent application of a 2D CNN-based approach. We found there to be a wide gap in the use of ML on 3D information. This gap will have to be addressed, especially for more complex plant feature extractions, which we intend to implement through further research.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods3Dレーザースキャンから個体植物を分離・計数する画像解析手法を開発し、CNNの精度評価とフェノタイピングパイプラインへの統合を行っており、植物表現型取得が研究の中心である。
abstractThis study tested whether machine learning (ML) methods can effectively separate individual plants from complex 3D canopy laser scans as a prerequisite to analyzing particular plant features.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's plant detection/counting pipeline source code is explicitly published on the authors' GitHub repository, stated in both the Conclusions and Data Availability Statement. No public phenotype dataset or trained model deposit is stated.Code · publicSource code of the proposed pipeline and plant detection, including the following updates, has been published in the following Github repositoriy https://github.com/serkankartal/Machine_Learning_Based_Plant_Detection_on_3D_Canopy_scansOpen asset ↗https://github.com/serkankartal/Machine_Learning_Based_Plant_Detection_on_3D_Canopy_scanslines:101-111Code / dataset availability confirmedCrossref · Europe PMC · OpenAlex · checked 9 Sept 2026
Abstract Background Being able to accurately assess the 3D architecture of plant canopies can allow us to better estimate plant productivity and improve our understanding of underlying plant processes. This is especially true if we can monitor these traits across plant development. Photogrammetry techniques, such as structure from motion, have been shown to provide accurate 3D reconstructions of monocot crop species such as wheat and rice, yet there has been little success reconstructing crop species with smaller leaves and more complex branching architectures, such as chickpea. Results In this work, we developed a low-cost 3D scanner and used an open-source data processing pipeline to assess the 3D structure of individual chickpea plants. The imaging system we developed consists of a user programmable turntable and three cameras that automatically captures 120 images of each plant and offloads these to a computer for processing. The capture process takes 5–10 min for each plant and the majority of the reconstruction process on a Windows PC is automated. Plant height and total plant surface area were validated against “ground truth” measurements, producing R 2 > 0.99 and a mean absolute percentage error Conclusions Our results show that it is possible to use low-cost photogrammetry techniques to accurately reconstruct individual chickpea plants, a crop with a complex architecture consisting of many small leaves and a highly branching structure. We hope that our use of open-source software and low-cost hardware will encourage others to use this promising technique for more architecturally complex species.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsヒヨコマメ個体の3D形態を取得する低コスト撮像システムとオープンソース解析パイプラインを開発し、草丈・表面積を基準値で検証しており、フェノタイピング手法が中心である。
abstractIn this work, we developed a low-cost 3D scanner and used an open-source data processing pipeline to assess the 3D structure of individual chickpea plants.
Reproduction assets foundThe authors deposited the paper's 3D point clouds and meshed chickpea models in an open-access Zenodo repository (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.4018242). Processing scripts are only included as article additional files, and the source images are available only on request from the corresponding author.Dataset · publicThe dataset supporting the conclusions of this article (3D point clouds and meshed models) are available in an open-access Zenodo repository, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4018242 .Open asset ↗Zenodo · 10.5281/zenodo.4018242lines:149-193Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Crossref · Europe PMC · checked 8 Sept 2026
The rapid development of phenotyping technologies over the last years gave the opportunity to study plant development over time. The treatment of the massive amount of data collected by high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) platforms is however an important challenge for the plant science community. An important issue is to accurately estimate, over time, the genotypic component of plant phenotype. In outdoor and field-based HTP platforms, phenotype measurements can be substantially affected by data-generation inaccuracies or failures, leading to erroneous or missing data. To solve that problem, we developed an analytical pipeline composed of three modules: detection of outliers, imputation of missing values, and mixed-model genotype adjusted means computation with spatial adjustment. The pipeline was tested on three different traits (3D leaf area, projected leaf area, and plant height), in two crops (chickpea, sorghum), measured during two seasons. Using real-data analyses and simulations, we showed that the sequential application of the three pipeline steps was particularly useful to estimate smooth genotype growth curves from raw data containing a large amount of noise, a situation that is potentially frequent in data generated on outdoor HTP platforms. The procedure we propose can handle up to 50% of missing values. It is also robust to data contamination rates between 20 and 30% of the data. The pipeline was further extended to model the genotype time series data. A change-point analysis allowed the determination of growth phases and the optimal timing where genotypic differences were the largest. The estimated genotypic values were used to cluster the genotypes during the optimal growth phase. Through a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), clusters were found to be consistently defined throughout the growth duration. Therefore, we could show, on a wide range of scenarios, that the pipeline facilitated efficient extraction of useful information from outdoor HTP platform data. High-quality plant growth time series data is also provided to support breeding decisions. The R code of the pipeline is available at https://github.com/ICRISAT-GEMS/SpaTemHTP.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods植物HTPデータから形質を抽出・補正する解析パイプラインを開発し、実データとシミュレーションで検証しているため、方法が中心的です。
abstractwe developed an analytical pipeline composed of three modules: detection of outliers, imputation of missing values, and mixed-model genotype adjusted means computation with spatial adjustment.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper explicitly provides two public GitHub repositories: the SpaTemHTP R pipeline package and a validation repository containing all data, scripts, and functions needed to reproduce the paper's phenotyping analyses. Raw phenotypic data itself is only available on request.Code · publicThe R code of the pipeline is available at https://github.com/ICRISAT-GEMS/SpaTemHTP .Open asset ↗ICRISAT-GEMS/SpaTemHTPlines:316-319Code · publicAll data, scripts, and functions required to reproduce the results can be found at: https://github.com/ICRISAT-GEMS/SpaTemHTP_Validation .Open asset ↗ICRISAT-GEMS/SpaTemHTP_Validationlines:457-479Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Crossref · Europe PMC · checked 14 Sept 2026
BACKGROUND: Restricting transpiration under high vapor pressure deficit (VPD) is a promising water-saving trait for drought adaptation. However, it is often measured under controlled conditions and at very low throughput, unsuitable for breeding. A few high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) studies exist, and have considered only maximum transpiration rate in analyzing genotypic differences in this trait. Further, no study has precisely identified the VPD breakpoints where genotypes restrict transpiration under natural conditions. Therefore, outdoors HTP data (15 min frequency) of a chickpea population were used to automate the generation of smooth transpiration profiles, extract informative features of the transpiration response to VPD for optimal genotypic discretization, identify VPD breakpoints, and compare genotypes. RESULTS: Fifteen biologically relevant features were extracted from the transpiration rate profiles derived from load cells data. Genotypes were clustered (C1, C2, C3) and 6 most important features (with heritability > 0.5) were selected using unsupervised Random Forest. All the wild relatives were found in C1, while C2 and C3 mostly comprised high TE and low TE lines, respectively. Assessment of the distinct p-value groups within each selected feature revealed highest genotypic variation for the feature representing transpiration response to high VPD condition. Sensitivity analysis on a multi-output neural network model (with R of 0.931, 0.944, 0.953 for C1, C2, C3, respectively) found C1 with the highest water saving ability, that restricted transpiration at relatively low VPD levels, 56% (i.e. 3.52 kPa) or 62% (i.e. 3.90 kPa), depending whether the influence of other environmental variables was minimum or maximum. Also, VPD appeared to have the most striking influence on the transpiration response independently of other environment variable, whereas light, temperature, and relative humidity alone had little/no effect. CONCLUSION: Through this study, we present a novel approach to identifying genotypes with drought-tolerance potential, which overcomes the challenges in HTP of the water-saving trait. The six selected features served as proxy phenotypes for reliable genotypic discretization. The wild chickpeas were found to limit water-loss faster than the water-profligate cultivated ones. Such an analytic approach can be directly used for prescriptive breeding applications, applied to other traits, and help expedite maximized information extraction from HTP data.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods屋外HTPのロードセルデータから蒸散応答の特徴量とVPDブレークポイントを自動抽出し、遺伝型を識別する解析手法が研究の中心であるため。
abstractoutdoors HTP data (15 min frequency) of a chickpea population were used to automate the generation of smooth transpiration profiles, extract informative features of the transpiration response to VPD for optimal genotypic discretization, identify VPD breakpoints, and compare genotypes.
Reproduction assets found保存済みの本文根拠を更新済みルールで再検証し、公開資産1件を確認しました。Code · publicInterested readers can find the R scripts on the open-source GitHub platform, https://github.com/KSoumya/EZTr .Open asset ↗KSoumya/EZTrlines:185-203Code / dataset availability confirmedCrossref · Europe PMC · checked 14 Sept 2026
BarleyChickpeaGreenhouseRootGrowth / time-series analysisGrowth / development / phenologyRoot system architecture
SUMMARY The phenotypic analysis of root system growth is important to inform efforts to enhance plant resource acquisition from soils; however, root phenotyping remains challenging because of the opacity of soil, requiring systems that facilitate root system visibility and image acquisition. Previously reported systems require costly or bespoke materials not available in most countries, where breeders need tools to select varieties best adapted to local soils and field conditions. Here, we report an affordable soil‐based growth (rhizobox) and imaging system to phenotype root development in glasshouses or shelters. All components of the system are made from locally available commodity components, facilitating the adoption of this affordable technology in low‐income countries. The rhizobox is large enough (approximately 6000 cm 2 of visible soil) to avoid restricting vertical root system growth for most if not all of the life cycle, yet light enough (approximately 21 kg when filled with soil) for routine handling. Support structures and an imaging station, with five cameras covering the whole soil surface, complement the rhizoboxes. Images are acquired via the Phenotiki sensor interface, collected, stitched and analysed. Root system architecture (RSA) parameters are quantified without intervention. The RSAs of a dicot species ( Cicer arietinum , chickpea) and a monocot species ( Hordeum vulgare , barley), exhibiting contrasting root systems, were analysed. Insights into root system dynamics during vegetative and reproductive stages of the chickpea life cycle were obtained. This affordable system is relevant for efforts in Ethiopia and other low‐ and middle‐income countries to enhance crop yields and climate resilience sustainably.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods土壌栽培植物の根系構造を画像取得・解析する、低コストのrhizoboxおよび多カメラ撮像システムを開発しており、根系形態の定量化が研究の中心である。
abstractHere, we report an affordable soil‐based growth (rhizobox) and imaging system to phenotype root development in glasshouses or shelters.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's data availability statement deposits software, test data, and rhizobox CAD files publicly at the Edinburgh DataShare DOI 10.7488/ds/2841, and materials are also linked at chickpearoots.org/resourcesandlinks. The analysis pipeline code itself is only available on request.Dataset · public, TB, CC and IR developed the growth conditions
for chickpea growth in rhizoboxes. TB, CC, VG, IR, ST and
PD wrote the paper.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
Software, test data for its evaluation and CAD files to con-
struct rhizoboxes have been made available at: https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/2841. Data and code implementing the anal-
ysis pipeline is available on request by emailing the senior/
co-corresponding authors.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online ver-
sion of this article.
Figure S1. Imaging station for imaging of a rhizobox.
Figure S2. Diagram of image capture anOpen asset ↗10.7488/ds/2841pdf-raw-page:13 lines:1-98Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 10 Sept 2026
BarleyChickpeaWheatLaboratory / benchtopX-ray / CTRootMorphology / geometry measurementSegmentationRoot system architecture
The objective of this study was to develop a flexible and free image processing and analysis solution, based on the Public Domain ImageJ platform, for the segmentation and analysis of complex biological plant root systems in soil from x-ray tomography 3D images. Contrasting root architectures from wheat, barley and chickpea root systems were grown in soil and scanned using a high resolution micro-tomography system. A macro (Root1) was developed that reliably identified with good to high accuracy complex root systems (10% overestimation for chickpea, 1% underestimation for wheat, 8% underestimation for barley) and provided analysis of root length and angle. In-built flexibility allowed the user interaction to (a) amend any aspect of the macro to account for specific user preferences, and (b) take account of computational limitations of the platform. The platform is free, flexible and accurate in analysing root system metrics.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods植物根系の3D画像から根長・根角度を抽出する画像解析ツールの開発と精度評価が研究の中心であるため。
abstractThe objective of this study was to develop a flexible and free image processing and analysis solution
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's μCT root image data and analysis files (including the Root1 macro workflow) are stated to be publicly deposited in a Harvard Dataverse dataset with an explicit DOI, directly supporting this paper's root phenotyping measurements and analysis.Dataset · publicAll files are available from the database https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/DXG4AH .Open asset ↗doi:10.7910/DVN/DXG4AHlines:45-53Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Europe PMC · checked 14 Sept 2026
Leaf senescence, an indicator of plant age and ill health, is an important phenotypic trait for the assessment of a plant's response to stress. Manual inspection of senescence, however, is time consuming, inaccurate and subjective. In this paper we propose an objective evaluation of plant senescence by color image analysis for use in a high throughput plant phenotyping pipeline. As high throughput phenotyping platforms are designed to capture whole-of-plant features, camera lenses and camera settings are inappropriate for the capture of fine detail. Specifically, plant colors in images may not represent true plant colors, leading to errors in senescence estimation. Our algorithm features a color distortion correction and image restoration step prior to a senescence analysis. We apply our algorithm to two time series of images of wheat and chickpea plants to quantify the onset and progression of senescence. We compare our results with senescence scores resulting from manual inspection. We demonstrate that our procedure is able to process images in an automated way for an accurate estimation of plant senescence even from color distorted and blurred images obtained under high throughput conditions.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods植物の老化を画像から自動推定する補正・復元・解析手法を開発し、手動評価と比較検証しており、表現型取得が研究の中心です。
abstractIn this paper we propose an objective evaluation of plant senescence by color image analysis for use in a high throughput plant phenotyping pipeline.
Reproduction assets found保存済みの本文根拠を更新済みルールで再検証し、公開資産1件を確認しました。Code · publicInstructions for users, software and sample image data will be available online at: https://sourceforge.net/projects/plant-senescence-analysis/ .Open asset ↗plant-senescence-analysislines:246-291