Abstract Background Sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ) is a versatile C4 crop used for food and feed and as biomass for bioproducts and energy. Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in sorghum is important because fertilizer is costly and excessive fertilizer use has negative environmental impacts. Leaf senescence mediates nutrient recycling, but its dynamic progression is difficult to quantify at scale. We evaluated whether visible-near-infrared hyperspectral imaging can provide high-throughput measures of N-limitation-induced senescence in sorghum and link these phenotypes to gene expression. Sorghum Tx430 plants were grown under four N treatments (6, 9, 12, and 15 mM), imaged from vegetative growth through grain fill, and destructively sampled for RNA-seq at four developmental stages. Results A supervised support vector machine with a radial basis function kernel classified pixels from a hyperspectral image of sorghum plants grown under different N levels into green leaf, yellow leaf, dry leaf, stalk, panicle, and background classes with 0.93 accuracy. We defined the senescence ratio as the sum of yellow and dry leaf areas divided by the green leaf area and computed it across multiple growth stages and nitrogen levels. The senescence ratio did not differ among N treatments during vegetative growth, but it declined with increasing N during boot, anthesis, and grain fill, indicating earlier senescence under N limitation. Among the genes whose expression positively correlated with senescence ratio were 13 putative transcription factors, including SbiRTX430.02G247100, a WRKY1/ZAP1 homolog and a WRKY4 homolog. Gene regulatory network analysis of the top 1% of genes associated with SbiRTX430.02G247100 showed enrichment for processes associated with leaf senescence and chlorophyll catabolism. In contrast, the network associated with the WRKY4 homolog was enriched for autophagy-related terms. Conclusions Our study shows that automated hyperspectral imaging is highly effective for monitoring dynamic plant phenotypes, such as stress-induced senescence, that are difficult to visually score with the naked eye. Here, nitrogen deficiency served as the stress condition. Still, this approach supports large-scale phenotypic data collection for any such stressor and enables analyses with greater statistical power, yielding more robust conclusions and the potential for new insights that can be applied to engineering and breeding better crops.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsソルガムの動的な老化表現型を高スループットに取得する hyperspectral imaging と、SVMによる画像分類・senescence ratio算出が研究の中心であり、植物状態の定量化手法を実証している。
abstractWe evaluated whether visible-near-infrared hyperspectral imaging can provide high-throughput measures of N-limitation-induced senescence in sorghum
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's availability statement points to a public GitHub repository containing the authors' image-processing, machine-learning classification, transcriptomic analysis, and figure-generation scripts. The 148 GB hyperspectral image data is only promised 'upon acceptance' (not yet public), and the RNA-seq deposit is aCode · publicle in the NCBI SRA repository,
552
under BioProject PRJNA1452908 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA1452908)
553
(RNA-seq raw reads SRR38119224 to SRR38119282). Scripts used for image processing,
554
machine-learning classification, transcriptomic analyses, and figure generation will be
555
accessible through GitHub (https://github.com/belafif2/TX430_Senescence). Image data (148
556
GB) will be made available in a data repository upon acceptance. Other relevant processed data
557
files and supporting figures are available as supplementary data documents.
558
559
Competing interests
560
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
561
Funding
562
This work was funded Open asset ↗belafif2/TX430_Senescencepdf-raw-page:22 lines:1-54Code / dataset availability confirmedCrossref · Europe PMC · checked 6 Sept 2026
P henotyping remains a critical bottleneck in sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) breeding programs, limiting rates of genetic gain due to labor-intensive yield estimation methods. To address this concern, this study investigates the potential of integrating remote sensing data with machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models to improve sorghum grain yield predictions. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)-based imagery was collected across multiple field trials, extracting standard vegetation indices, canopy height features, and panicle traits using a YOLOv11-based object detection model, "YOLO-SORG." Six ML models-including ridge regression (RR), elastic net (EN), LASSO regression (LR), support vector regression (SVR), random forest (RF), and XGBoost (XGB)-were trained to predict plot-level yield using three distinct feature sets: panicle traits, canopy traits, and a combination of both. Results indicate that models relying solely or partially on canopy-derived features provided the most consistent and accurate yield estimates (R 2 ≈ 0.74-0.76), whereas models relying solely on panicle traits performed poorly (R 2 ≈ 0.28-0.42), indicating nadir-derived panicle metrics were potentially being indirectly captured with the canopy traits. Traditional regression models outperformed tree-based ensemble methods in variance partitioning and repeatability ( R ≈ 0.59-0.60), making them more suitable for many breeding applications. These findings highlight the promise of UAS-driven ML pipelines for non-destructive yield prediction but underscore potential limitations of nadir imagery for capturing panicle morphology and use in a robust yield prediction model. Future research should explore the inclusion of multi-temporal imaging, refined feature extraction approaches, and use of oblique, non-nadir imagery to enhance predictive accuracy in sorghum breeding programs.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsUAS画像からキャノピー高、穂形質、植生指数を抽出し、機械学習でソルガムのプロット収量を推定するパイプラインが研究の中心であり、形質取得・推定手法の評価も行っている。
abstractthis study investigates the potential of integrating remote sensing data with machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models to improve sorghum grain yield predictions.
Reproduction assets foundThe authors explicitly state that the tabular data and code used in this sorghum yield prediction study are publicly available in their GitHub repository, which is a paper-specific asset containing the analysis code and phenotype data.Code · publicThe tabular data and code used in this study can be found in the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/AcePugh/Sorghum_Yield_Prediction_2025/Open asset ↗AcePugh/Sorghum_Yield_Prediction_2025lines:137-139Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 5 Sept 2026
Protein content is an important quality trait in sorghum that influences breeding approaches, end-use applications, and market value. Influenced by genetic, agronomic, and environmental variability, sorghum is characterized by its wide variation in composition, which may also be evident in kernels from the same sample. This study developed and evaluated a method for a non-destructive and rapid prediction of protein content in individual sorghum kernels using single-kernel near-infrared spectroscopy (SKNIR). Applying different pre-processing techniques to the spectra collected from intact kernels, the calibration models were developed using partial least squares regression and the reference protein content values obtained from the LECO combustion method. The best model was obtained using multiplicative scatter correction as pre-processing, resulting in a standard error of prediction of 0.83% and a relative predictive determinant of 3.40. These were indicative of the good predictive ability of the model and the instrument to be applied in quality control and sorting applications. These results highlight the potential of SKNIR to capture the inter-kernel variability in sorghum protein content and enhance screening for grain quality in breeding and grain processing.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods単一穀粒NIRによるソルガム種子のタンパク質含量推定法を開発・評価しており、植物器官の形質取得が研究の中心である。
abstractThis study developed and evaluated a method for a non-destructive and rapid prediction of protein content in individual sorghum kernels using single-kernel near-infrared spectroscopy (SKNIR).
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's Data Availability Statement deposits the original single-kernel NIR spectra and reference protein data openly in Ag Data Commons, a paper-specific public dataset directly reproducing this study's measurements.Dataset · publicThe original data presented in the study is openly available in Ag Data Commons [https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/31316725].Open asset ↗Ag Data Commons · 10.15482/USDA.ADC/31316725html-lines:226-278Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 5 Sept 2026
MilletSorghumRootTissueSegmentationRoot system architecture
Root anatomical features are critical for plant performance characterization, yet phenotyping at the anatomical scale remains limited by the extreme annotation burden of cellular segmentation. We present a two-stage segmentation framework that greatly reduces annotation requirements while maintaining high accuracy across diverse plant species and imaging conditions. Our approach decomposes multi-class segmentation into species-agnostic tissue identification followed by tissue type classification. By designing robust input representations invariant to imaging artifacts and morphological variations, our framework enables rapid adaptation to new species with fewer than 40 labeled images. Additionally, the first stage automatically generates tissue boundaries, transforming tedious manual tracing into simple tissue labeling. We validate our method on pearl millet, and sorghum root cross-sections from different imaging protocols, achieving state-of-the-art performance while dramatically reducing deployment time. This efficiency breakthrough enables scalable root phenotyping across diverse crop species, accelerating the development of climate-resilient varieties for global food security.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods植物根の解剖学的形質を対象とする画像セグメンテーション手法を開発し、複数種・撮像条件で検証しているため、方法が研究の中心である。
abstractWe present a two-stage segmentation framework that greatly reduces annotation requirements while maintaining high accuracy across diverse plant species and imaging conditions.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's Data availability statement explicitly deposits the annotated root image dataset (Zenodo 17726414), trained segmentation models (Zenodo 17737703), and the authors' source code (GitHub janetkok/Root-Segmentation-Beyond-Species-Boundaries), all directly reproducing this paper's root anatomical phenotyping andDataset · publicThe dataset and models are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17726414 and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17737703 , respectively.Open asset ↗Zenodo · 10.5281/zenodo.17726414lines:242-251Code · publicThe source code is hosted at https://github.com/janetkok/Root-Segmentation-Beyond-Species-Boundaries .Open asset ↗GitHub · janetkok/Root-Segmentation-Beyond-Species-Boundarieslines:242-251Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 15 Sept 2026
Introduction Sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a vital cereal crop for food, feed, and biofuel production. Accurate estimation of grain biochemical composition, crude protein (CP), lysine from grain (LysG) and protein (LysP), starch (SC), amylose from grain (AMLG) and starch (AMLS), and crude fat (CF), is crucial for improving breeding and management strategies. Our aim is not pre-harvest forecasting but reducing laboratory cost by identifying a minimal set of post-harvest measurements required to estimate other grain composition traits accurately. Methods We used machine learning (ML) models to predict grain quality traits in commercial sorghum hybrids under different management practices, including precision nitrogen application, cover cropping, and no-till methods. Multi-year field trials (2023-2024) in Saint Charles, Missouri, integrated agronomic, physiological, UAV-based, and environmental data for model training and validation. Results Phenotypic analysis showed that grain composition traits varied significantly by year and management practices. Among ML models, LASSO and ElasticNet achieved the highest predictive accuracy for crude protein (R² = 0.90) and amylose content (AMLS, R² = 0.99; AMLG, R² = 0.92). Bayesian Ridge was most effective for lysine from protein (R² = 0.64), while Partial Least Squares (PLS) excelled in starch content prediction (R² = 0.80). The correlation between grain composition (LysP, CF) and photosystem II efficiency (PhiPS2) indicated that enhanced photosynthesis and yield promote their accumulation. However, Partial Dependence Plots (PDPs) revealed strong non-linear effects, where slight variations in leaf temperature (Tleaf) and stomatal conductance (gsw) were associated with significant shifts in amylose content. Discussion This study highlights the role of genotype × management interactions in sorghum breeding and demonstrates the value of integrating ML-driven models to enhance grain quality and precision agriculture strategies.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods穀粒の生化学的形質を少数の測定値から推定する機械学習モデルの開発・検証が研究の中心であり、単なる農業実験の routine 測定ではない。
abstractreducing laboratory cost by identifying a minimal set of post-harvest measurements required to estimate other grain composition traits accurately
Reproduction assets foundThe article's data availability statement points to a Figshare deposit containing the study's datasets (agronomic, physiological, UAV-based, and grain composition data used for ML modeling). No author analysis code or trained model checkpoints are explicitly deposited.Dataset · publicith weather data acquisition.
Edited by: Filipe Matias , University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States
Reviewed by: Xiaolong Yang , Nantong University, China
David Mojaravscki , State University of Campinas, Brazil
Data availability statement
The datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories, on Figshare https://figshare.com/s/2765f89c7ea840e5c6be?file=59367320 . The names of the repository/repositories and accessionnumber(s) can be found in the article/ Supplementary Material .
Author contributions
BG: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. MC: Conceptualization, Data Open asset ↗Figsharelines:471-515Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · bioRxiv · Crossref · checked 14 Sept 2026
Volume electron microscopy (vEM) provides nanometer-scale, three-dimensional imaging of cells, but applying it to plant systems remains challenging. Cell walls, large vacuoles, and tissue thickness complicate sample preparation and cryogenic imaging. Here we report a cryogenic vEM (cryo-vEM) workflow for unstained plant protoplasts that achieves volumetric imaging of whole vitrified sorghum stem protoplasts without chemical fixation, dehydration, resin embedding, or heavy-metal staining. The method integrates optimized protoplast isolation, plunge-freezing vitrification for native-state preservation, automated cryogenic focus ion beam scanning electron microscopy (cryo-FIB-SEM) slice-and-view acquisition, contrast enhancement and stack alignment, and AI-assisted human-in-the-loop 3D segmentation. Using sorghum stem protoplasts as a demonstration, the workflow captured large-volume frozen-hydrated protoplast ultrastructure, allowing visualization of major organelles, including the nucleus, mitochondria, vacuoles, ER/Golgi-like membranes, lipid bodies, and subcellular features consistent with nuclear-envelope pores. We further quantified organelle volumes and surface areas from the segmented 3D data, highlighting the potential for quantitative cellular ultrastructure analysis. This cryo-vEM workflow provides a platform for near-native structural studies of isolated plant protoplasts.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods植物プロトプラストの三次元画像取得・セグメンテーション・オルガネラ形態量化を中核とする手法開発であり、植物の細胞形態形質を抽出するため。
abstractHere we report a cryogenic vEM (cryo-vEM) workflow for unstained plant protoplasts that achieves volumetric imaging of whole vitrified sorghum stem protoplasts
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 · public369 The codes are freely available at https://github.com/xzhang0123/vEMOpen asset ↗https://github.com/xzhang0123/vEM · xzhang0123/vEMpdf-page:10 lines:1-24Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 6 Sept 2026
The AI revolution, advanced Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), and open-source platforms have enabled Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) algorithms to rapidly and accurately extract phenotypic features from imagery. Such advancements have led to phenotypic digitization and made rapid yield forecasting possible. Yield predictions are critical to assess the merit of genotypes to propel cultivar development. This trial followed a three-replicated Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 36 diverse sorghum genotypes in 2023 at Ashland Bottoms, Kansas. The field images were captured 6 m above using a DJI M300 drone at 90° nadir and 45° oblique angles. This research trained YOLO and Faster R-CNN (Detectron2) models to harness yield attributes from UAS field and lab images. The YOLO models outperformed the Faster R-CNN in detecting sorghum panicles, achieving a mean average precision at 50 % IoU (mAP@0.50) scores of 0.92-0.98, compared to 0.61-0.89 for Faster R-CNN. Panicle detection from field imagery showed a linear correlation of 0.86 with ground truth field panicle counts. Lab imagery analyses measured panicle area, seed counts, and seed area with correlation coefficients of 0.79, 0.94, and 0.25 with respective ground truth observations. Support Vector Regression (SVR), Random Forest Regression (RFR), and Decision Tree Regression (DTR) were used to predict yield with correlation coefficients of 0.74, 0.71, and 0.78, respectively, and SHapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) analysis revealed panicle seed count as the primary driver of yield prediction. We observed YOLO models are well-suited for extracting yield-predictive features from pertinent images. Such features can then be incorporated into ML regression models to predict yield per se performance with greater accuracy. The GitHub link is provided in the Data availability section.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsUAS・実験室画像から穂数、穂面積、種子数・面積などの植物形質を深層学習で抽出し、検出精度を検証して収量予測へ利用する方法が研究の中心である。
abstractThis research trained YOLO and Faster R-CNN (Detectron2) models to harness yield attributes from UAS field and lab images.
Reproduction assets foundThe authors explicitly state that scripts, fine-tuned models, datasets, and sample images for this sorghum yield-forecasting study are publicly available on GitHub, matching the allowed URL exactly.Code · publicThe scripts, fine-tuned models, datasets, and sample images pertinent to this manuscript are available on GitHub at https://github.com/mbari78/DL_for_Sorghum_Yield_Prediction.git .Open asset ↗https://github.com/mbari78/DL_for_Sorghum_Yield_Prediction.gitlines:244-299Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · OpenAlex · Crossref · checked 6 Sept 2026
Differences in canopy architecture play a role in determining both the light and water use efficiency. Canopy architecture is determined by several component traits, including leaf length, width, number, angle, and phyllotaxy. Phyllotaxy may be among the most difficult of the leaf canopy traits to measure accurately across large numbers of individual plants. As a result, in simulations of the leaf canopies of grain crops such as maize and sorghum, this trait is frequently approximated as alternating 180° angles between sequential leaves. We explore the feasibility of extracting direct measurements of the phyllotaxy of sequential leaves from 3D reconstructions of individual sorghum plants generated from 2D calibrated images and test the assumption of consistently alternating phyllotaxy across a diverse set of sorghum genotypes. Using a voxel-carving-based approach, we generate 3D reconstructions from multiple calibrated 2D images of 366 sorghum plants representing 236 sorghum genotypes from the sorghum association panel. The correlation between automated and manual measurements of phyllotaxy is only modestly lower than the correlation between manual measurements of phyllotaxy generated by two different individuals. Automated phyllotaxy measurements exhibited a repeatability of R 2 = 0.41 across imaging timepoints separated by a period of two days. A resampling based genome wide association study (GWAS) identified several putative genetic associations with lower-canopy phyllotaxy in sorghum. This study demonstrates the potential of 3D reconstruction to enable both quantitative genetic investigation and breeding for phyllotaxy in sorghum and other grain crops with similar plant architectures.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods3D再構成とボクセル・カービングにより、ソルガムの葉序を自動抽出・定量し、手動測定との比較と再現性評価まで行っており、植物表現型取得法が研究の中心である。
abstractWe explore the feasibility of extracting direct measurements of the phyllotaxy of sequential leaves from 3D reconstructions of individual sorghum plants generated from 2D calibrated images
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's data availability statement explicitly provides public access to the reconstruction/skeletonization code (GitHub SorghumVoxelCarving), the raw 2D sorghum images used for voxel-carving 3D reconstruction (Zenodo DOI 10.5281/zenodo.4426620), and the phenotypic data, GWAS result files, and analysis/figure code,Code · publicThe code for reconstruction and skeletonization is available at GitHub: https://github.com/cropsinsilico/SorghumVoxelCarving .Open asset ↗cropsinsilico/SorghumVoxelCarvinglines:93-131Dataset · publicThe raw images analyzed in this study are available at Zenodo: Mathieu Gaillard, Chenyong Miao, James C. Schnable, & Bedrich Benes. (2021). Voxel Carving Based 3D Reconstruction of Sorghum [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4426620 .Open asset ↗Zenodo · 10.5281/zenodo.4426620lines:93-131Code · publicThe phenotypic data, GWAS result files and code for main figures and analysis are available at Github: https://github.com/jdavis-132/phyllotaxy.git .Open asset ↗jdavis-132/phyllotaxylines:93-131Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 14 Sept 2026
Plant breeding efficiency is crucial to develop varieties able to cope with climate change and support food and feed value chains. Genomic prediction (GP) has been a major step in increasing this efficiency and is now routinely used in breeding programs. Recently, phenomic prediction (PP) has gained attention as a promising complementary approach to GP, further increasing the breeding programs’ efficiency. Factors impacting the predictive ability (PA) of PP have been studied on many species but are not fully clarified. In this context, we studied the impacts of spectra pre-processing, prediction methods, population structure, training set size, NIRS acquisition environment and wavelength selection on a large multi-parental sorghum population including 2498 genotypes. Our results show that PP can compete with GP, that it is less affected by population structure, and can reach its maximal PA with smaller training sets than GP, but its performances are trait dependant. We also show that NIRS can be acquired in a reference environment to perform prediction in other environments and that it is possible to randomly select as little as 10 wavelengths to perform predictions. Finally, we show that spectra pre-processing, and statistical methods have a limited and unclear impact on PA. Our study confirms that PP is a relevant trait prediction method that deserves attention to optimize breeding schemes. The main challenges for the future will be to better understand the information contained in the spectra and disentangle their genetic and proxy components to optimize the use of PP in breeding programs. Key message Phenomic prediction is promising for sorghum breeding. Geneticists’ methods may not be suited to optimally extract spectral information.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsNIRSスペクトルから植物形質を予測するフェノミック予測手法を、前処理・予測法・集団構造・学習セット規模・取得環境・波長選択の観点で比較検証しており、手法が研究の中心です。
abstractwe studied the impacts of spectra pre-processing, prediction methods, population structure, training set size, NIRS acquisition environment and wavelength selection
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 · publicWe determined a unique genetic consensus map by projecting the physical distance of the 51,545
markers on a high-quality genetic consensus map (Guindo et al., 2019) using the R package ziplinR
(https://github.com/jframi/ziplinR).Open asset ↗jframi/ziplinRpdf-page:6 lines:1-43Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Crossref · checked 14 Sept 2026
Abstract As climate change continues to influence global weather patterns, the frequency and severity of drought conditions are expected to increase, posing a significant challenge to crop production. In sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L. Moench), a key cereal crop, the stay‐green trait is of particular importance as a measure of how well a genotype can tolerate post‐anthesis drought conditions, which are critical for harvestable yield. Despite its importance, there is a pressing need for a more efficient, accurate, and precise method to phenotype stay‐green in sorghum to enhance breeding efforts. To address this need, this study explores the application of random forest and XGBoost machine learning models for phenotyping the stay‐green trait in sorghum. These models provide quantitative measurements that have the potential to enhance genomic studies and offer additional benefits. Although correlations with vegetation indices were occasionally high, they were not sufficiently reliable to be used exclusively. The machine learning models, in contrast, showed high percentages of genetic variation explained and had high repeatability. The values generated by these algorithms enable plant breeders to efficiently make selections in their stay‐green breeding programs. Further research is needed to assess the robustness of these models across different environments and genetic material. Additionally, comparing these models with other machine learning approaches will help determine if decision tree‐based models are the most effective for this application. Overall, the models presented in this study serve as a promising foundation for improving the efficiency of stay‐green breeding programs in sorghum, but they require further validation and comparison with alternative approaches.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsソルガムのstay-green形質をUAV画像と機械学習で定量化する手法を開発・評価しており、表現型取得・抽出が研究の中心である。反復性や遺伝的変異の説明率も評価している。
abstractthere is a pressing need for a more efficient, accurate, and precise method to phenotype stay‐green in sorghum
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's data availability statement explicitly releases the raw tabular stay-green phenotyping data and the authors' Python machine learning scripts in a public GitHub repository, directly supporting this paper's phenotyping measurements and analysis.Code · publicwould like to thank Bruce Spinhirne for
his assistance with the management of the experiment.
C O N F L I C T O F I N T E R E S T S TAT E M E N T
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
DATA AVA I L A B I L I T Y S TAT E M E N T
The raw tabular data and Python machine learning scripts
used in this study are available at: https://github.com/AcePugh/staygreen-prediction.git.O RC I D
N. AcePugh https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7129-6556
R E F E R E N C E S
Abbass, K., Qasim, M. Z., Song, H., Murshed, M., Mahmood, H., &
Younis, I. (2022). A review of the global climate change impacts,
adaptation, and sustainable mitigation measures. Environmental Sci-
ence and Pollution Research, 29(28), 42539–Open asset ↗AcePugh/staygreen-predictionpdf-raw-page:18 lines:1-81Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · checked 14 Sept 2026
Inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizer has emerged as one of the key factors driving increased crop yields in the past several decades. However, the overuse of chemical N fertilizer has led to severe ecological and environmental burdens. Understanding how crops respond to N fertilizer has become a central topic in plant science and plant genetics, with the ultimate goal of enhancing N use efficiency (NUE) in crop production. As one of the most essential macronutrients, N significantly influences crop performance across different developmental stages of plants, and phenotypic traits result from the cumulative effects of genetic factors, prevailing environmental conditions (specifically N availability), and their complex interactions. Previous studies have selected a set of genes potentially affecting Sorghum nitrogen responsiveness to be characterized. The knockout mutants of these genes are generated using the CRISPR-Cas9 technique. Using a LemnaTec plant imaging system, this study obtained time series imagery data from 29 to 130 d after sowing (DAS) for these CRISPR-edited mutants under high N and low N greenhouse conditions. After imagery data analysis, temporal pixel count and greenness index traits were extracted as a proxy of plant growth and N responses, which, subsequently, were modeled by mathematical functions, allowing us to estimate seven key parameters from the growth curves. Our findings revealed that the wildtype and the edited sorghum lines exhibited differences in N responses for several of the key growth-related parameters, with the Edit 1 showing especially reduced sensitiveness to use the available N resources. This high-throughput N phenotyping pipeline paves the way for a better understanding of the N responses of edited lines in a dynamic manner and sheds light on further improvements in crop NUE.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsLemnaTec画像を用いた時系列の植物表現型取得と、画素数・緑色度および成長曲線パラメータの抽出から成る高スループット表現型パイプラインが研究の中心である。
abstractUsing a LemnaTec plant imaging system, this study obtained time series imagery data from 29 to 130 d after sowing (DAS) for these CRISPR-edited mutants under high N and low N greenhouse conditions.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's Data availability statement explicitly deposits the raw LemnaTec imagery datasets and the extracted phenotypic data (pixel count and greenness index time series) in a public GitHub repository, which directly reproduces this paper's plant-phenotyping measurements.Dataset · publicJC, Yang J; experimental data generation: Jin H,
Park A, Li G; data analysis and interpretation of results: Jin H,
Sreedasyam A. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final
version of the manuscript.
Data availability
The raw imagery datasets and the extracted phenotypic data are
available in the GitHub repository: https://github.com/JIN-HY/Sorghum-edits-N-Phenotyping.Acknowledgments
This project was supported by the US Department of Energy (Grant No.
DE-SC0023138), and the National Science Foundation under the award
number OIA-1826781.
N responses of sorghum mutants
Page6of8 Jin et al.GenomicsCommunications 2025, 2: e010Open asset ↗Sorghum-edits-N-Phenotypingpdf-raw-page:6 lines:77-121Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Europe PMC · bioRxiv · checked 15 Sept 2026
ABSTRACT Inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizer has emerged as one of the key factors driving increased crop yields in the past several decades; however, the overuse of chemical N fertilizer has led to severe ecological and environmental burdens. Understanding how crops respond to N fertilizer has become a central topic in plant science and plant genetics, with the ultimate goal of enhancing N use efficiency (NUE) in crop production. As one of the most essential macronutrients, N significantly influences crop performance across different developmental stages of plant, phenotypic traits result from the accumulative effects of genetic factors, prevailing environmental conditions (specifically N availability), and their complex interactions. To characterize the targeting N-responsiveness and growth trajectory, we employed CRISPR-Cas9 technique to generate sorghum mutants using CRISPR technology. Using a LemnaTec plant imaging system, we obtained time series imagery data from 29 to 130 days after sowing (DAS) for these CRISPR-edited mutants under high N and low N greenhouse conditions. After imagery data analysis, we extracted a number of morphological and greenness index traits as a proxy of plant growth and N responses. Subsequently, we employed two different methods to model the temporal N-responsive traits, allowing us to estimate seven key parameters from the growth curve. Our findings revealed that the wildtype and the edited sorghum lines exhibited differences in N responses for several of the key growth-related parameters. The high-throughput N phenotyping pipeline paves the way for a better understanding of the N responses of edited lines in a dynamic manner and sheds light on further improvements in crop NUE.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsLemnaTec画像による時系列形質取得と成長曲線モデリングを組み合わせた高スループット表現型解析パイプラインが、研究の主要な技術的要素として記述されています。
abstractUsing a LemnaTec plant imaging system, we obtained time series imagery data from 29 to 130 days after sowing (DAS) for these CRISPR-edited mutants under high N and low N greenhouse conditions.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's Supporting Information section links four public GitHub-hosted supplementary data files containing the paper-specific phenotypic values (fitted pixel count and ExG curve parameters) and statistical contrasts, directly reproducing this study's sorghum N-response phenotyping measurements and analysis outputs.Supplement · publicSupporting Information
Supporting Tables
Table S1. The phenotypic values calculated from the pixel count curves.
(https://github.com/JIN-HY/Sorghum-edits-N-Phenotyping/blob/main/fitpx.csv)
Table S2. The phenotypic values calculated from the ExG curves.
(https://github.com/JIN-HY/Sorghum-edits-N-Phenotyping/blob/main/fitexg.csv)
Table S3. The contrasts of the phenotypes calculated from the pixel count curves.
(https://github.com/JIN-HY/Sorghum-edits-N-Phenotyping/blob/main/PXcontrasts.xlsx)
Table S4. The contrastOpen asset ↗JIN-HY/Sorghum-edits-N-Phenotyping · fitpx.csvpdf-raw-page:11 lines:1-21Supplement · publicSupporting Information
Supporting Tables
Table S1. The phenotypic values calculated from the pixel count curves.
(https://github.com/JIN-HY/Sorghum-edits-N-Phenotyping/blob/main/fitpx.csv)
Table S2. The phenotypic values calculated from the ExG curves.
(https://github.com/JIN-HY/Sorghum-edits-N-Phenotyping/blob/main/fitexg.csv)
Table S3. The contrasts of the phenotypes calculated from the pixel count curves.
(https://github.com/JIN-HY/Sorghum-edits-N-Phenotyping/blob/main/PXcontrasts.xlsx)
Table S4. The contrasts of the phenotypes calculated from the ExG curves.
(https://github.com/JIN-HY/Sorghum-edits-N-Phenotyping/blob/main/ExGcontrast.xlsx)
11/14Open asset ↗JIN-HY/Sorghum-edits-N-Phenotyping · fitexg.csvpdf-raw-page:11 lines:1-21Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 7 Sept 2026
Identification of high carotenoid germplasm is crucial to assist breeders in provitamin-A biofortification of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor [L.] Moench). High-performance liquid chromatography is the gold standard for carotenoid quantification, however, it is not feasible for large scale phenotyping due to its high cost and low throughput. In this study, we tested the feasibility of using grain color as a high-throughput method of carotenoid biofortification breeding. We hypothesized that visual, color-based selection can be an effective strategy to identify high-carotenoid accessions. Yellow grain had significantly higher carotenoid content than red, brown, and white grain. The degree of yellowness could distinguish the presence or absence of carotenoids, but could not distinguish carotenoid concentrations within yellow-only accessions. The degree of luminosity of the grain, however, was able to better predict carotenoid concentrations within yellow-only accessions. Genome-wide association studies identified significant marker-trait associations for qualitative and quantitative grain color traits and carotenoid concentrations near carotenoid pathway genes-ZEP, PDS, CYP97A, NCED, CCD, and LycE-three of which were common between grain color and carotenoid traits. These findings suggest that using grain color as a method for screening germplasm may be an effective high-throughput selection tool for prebreeding and early-stage breeding in carotenoid biofortification.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods穀粒色を用いたカロテノイド含量推定・高スループット選抜法の実現可能性を検証しており、植物形質取得法が研究の中心である。
abstractIn this study, we tested the feasibility of using grain color as a high-throughput method of carotenoid biofortification breeding.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's grain-color/carotenoid phenotyping data are in public supplementary files (Supplementary Data S1–S3: GRIN color traits, visual scores, colorimeter measurements), and the authors' analysis code is publicly deposited on GitHub with an explicit availability statement.Code · publicAll other data files are available in the supplemental files and code is available at: https://github.com/rmcdower/sorghumbiofortification/tree/a8457f87068867eb687235c255a6222863102e1aOpen asset ↗rmcdower/sorghumbiofortification · a8457f87068867eb687235c255a6222863102e1alines:134-147Dataset · publicThree grains each per accession were scored independently by two individuals and classified as white, yellow, red, or brown (Supplementary Data S2).Open asset ↗lines:71-78Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Europe PMC · bioRxiv · checked 15 Sept 2026
Abstract Differences in canopy architecture play a role in determining both the light and water use efficiency. Canopy architecture is determined by several component traits, including leaf length, width, number, angle, and phyllotaxy. Phyllotaxy may be among the most difficult of the leaf canopy traits to measure accurately across large numbers of individual plants. As a result, in simulations of the leaf canopies of grain crops such as maize and sorghum, this trait is frequently approximated as alternating 180° angles between sequential leaves. We explore the feasibility of extracting direct measurements of the phyllotaxy of sequential leaves from 3D reconstructions of individual sorghum plants generated from 2D calibrated images and test the assumption of consistently alternating phyllotaxy across a diverse set of sorghum genotypes. Using a voxel-carving-based approach, we generate 3D reconstructions from multiple calibrated 2D images of 366 sorghum plants representing 236 sorghum genotypes from the sorghum association panel. The correlation between automated and manual measurements of phyllotaxy is only modestly lower than the correlation between manual measurements of phyllotaxy generated by two different individuals. Automated phyllotaxy measurements exhibited a repeatability of R 2 = 0.41 across imaging timepoints separated by a period of two days. A resampling based genome wide association study (GWAS) identified several putative genetic associations with lower-canopy phyllotaxy in sorghum. This study demonstrates the potential of 3D reconstruction to enable both quantitative genetic investigation and breeding for phyllotaxy in sorghum and other grain crops with similar plant architectures.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods3D再構成とボクセル・カービングによりソルガムの葉序を自動抽出し、手動測定との比較および反復性を評価しており、表現型取得手法が研究の中心である。
abstractWe explore the feasibility of extracting direct measurements of the phyllotaxy of sequential leaves from 3D reconstructions of individual sorghum plants generated from 2D calibrated images
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's Data Availability section publicly deposits the raw sorghum images on Zenodo and the phenotypic data, GWAS result files, and analysis/figure code on GitHub (jdavis-132/phyllotaxy). The reconstruction/skeletonization code (cropsinsilico/SorghumVoxelCarving) is also mentioned but its URL has no exact match inDataset · publicuction and skeletonization is available at GitHub: https://github.com/
401 cropsinsilico/SorghumVoxelCarving
402 The raw images analyzed in this study are available at Zenodo: Mathieu Gaillard, Chenyong
403 Miao, James C. Schnable, & Bedrich Benes. (2021). Voxel Carving Based 3D Reconstruction of
404 Sorghum [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4426620.
405 The phenotypic data, GWAS result files and code for main figures and analysis are available at
406 Github: https://github.com/jdavis-132/phyllotaxy.git
407 Author Contributions
408 JMD and NS collected measurements and ground truth data. MG IO and BL designed methods
409 for and performed image analysis, plant reconstructiOpen asset ↗Zenodo · 10.5281/zenodo.4426620pdf-layout-page:14 lines:1-50Code · publicare available at Zenodo: Mathieu Gaillard, Chenyong
403 Miao, James C. Schnable, & Bedrich Benes. (2021). Voxel Carving Based 3D Reconstruction of
404 Sorghum [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4426620.
405 The phenotypic data, GWAS result files and code for main figures and analysis are available at
406 Github: https://github.com/jdavis-132/phyllotaxy.git
407 Author Contributions
408 JMD and NS collected measurements and ground truth data. MG IO and BL designed methods
409 for and performed image analysis, plant reconstruction and trait value extraction. JMD NS and
410 RJG annotated image data and employed domain expertise to reconcile extracted trait values and
411 true plaOpen asset ↗GitHub · jdavis-132/phyllotaxypdf-layout-page:14 lines:1-50Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · OpenAlex · checked 7 Sept 2026
High-throughput phenotyping is the bottleneck for advancing field trait characterization and yield improvement in major field crops. Specifically for sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L.), rapid plant-level yield estimation is highly dependent on characterizing the number of grains within a panicle. In this context, the integration of computer vision and artificial intelligence algorithms with traditional field phenotyping can be a critical solution to reduce labor costs and time. Therefore, this study aims to improve sorghum panicle detection and grain number estimation from smartphone-capture images under field conditions. A preharvest benchmark dataset was collected at field scale (2023 season, Kansas, USA), with 648 images of sorghum panicles retrieved via smartphone device, and grain number counted. Each sorghum panicle image was manually labeled, and the images were augmented. Two models were trained using the Detectron2 and Yolov8 frameworks for detection and segmentation, with an average precision of 75% and 89%, respectively. For the grain number, 3 models were trained: MCNN (multiscale convolutional neural network), TCNN-Seed (two-column CNN-Seed), and Sorghum-Net (developed in this study). The Sorghum-Net model showed a mean absolute percentage error of 17%, surpassing the other models. Lastly, a simple equation was presented to relate the count from the model (using images from only one side of the panicle) to the field-derived observed number of grains per sorghum panicle. The resulting framework obtained an estimation of grain number with a 17% error. The proposed framework lays the foundation for the development of a more robust application to estimate sorghum yield using images from a smartphone at the plant level.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsスマートフォン画像からソルガム穂の検出・分割と粒数推定を開発・検証しており、植物形質取得手法が研究の中心である。
abstractthis study aims to improve sorghum panicle detection and grain number estimation from smartphone-capture images under field conditions.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's authors explicitly state that the code used to train, test, and analyze the data is publicly available on GitHub. The phenotype image datasets are only available upon request.Code · publicThe code used to train, test, and analyze the data is available at https://github.com/GustavoSantiago113/Sorghum_Grain_Counter .Open asset ↗GustavoSantiago113/Sorghum_Grain_Counterlines:169-296Code / dataset availability confirmedCrossref · Europe PMC · checked 15 Sept 2026
In this study, we introduce PlantSegNet, a novel neural network model for instance segmentation of nearby objects with similar geometric structures. Our work addresses the challenges of instance segmentation of plant point clouds, including the difficulty of annotating and labeling point clouds, the loss of local structural information in neural network components, and the generation of large numbers of incorrect small clusters due to poor choices of the loss function. One of the key contributions of our approach is a digital twin of sorghum, i.e., a procedural sorghum model, which was used to generate point clouds of sorghum fields. This allowed us to create a large-scale, annotated, synthetic dataset of sorghum plants that we used to train our PlantSegNet model. We demonstrated the effectiveness of our method in segmenting instances of sorghum leaves grown in outdoor field settings. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to address this specific instance segmentation problem for plants grown in such a setting. We compared our proposed method with other state-of-the-art methods for indoor settings, including SGPN and TreePartNet, on both synthetic and real data. Our results show that PlantSegNet outperforms these methods regarding accuracy, robustness, and efficiency.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods植物葉の点群から器官インスタンスを抽出するニューラルネットワークを開発し、合成データセット作成、実データでの比較検証まで行っており、植物表現型取得手法が中心である。
abstractwe introduce PlantSegNet, a novel neural network model for instance segmentation of nearby objects with similar geometric structures.
Reproduction assets foundThe authors publicly release their PlantSegNet analysis code (PyTorch models and TreePartNet wrapper) together with their labeled synthetic and real sorghum point cloud datasets, and separately state the datasets (synthetic/real sorghum and Tree Dataset) are publicly available on their GitHub page.Dataset · publicobjects. To
that end, according to PlantSegNet input format requirements, we
developed a modified version of the TreePartNet paper’s dataset named
the Tree Dataset. The Tree Dataset includes 3,521, 440, and 440 point
clouds in the training, validation, and test sets. These datasets are now
publicly available on our GitHub page https://github.com/ariyanzri/PlantSegNet.3.2. Data augmentation
To enhance the diversity of our artificially generated dataset and
make it more resilient to the noises present in the real data, we intro-
duce a common noise to each point coordinate in all three dimensions
of the 3D space separately. The noise has a mean of zero and a standard
deviation of 0.01. FurtherOpen asset ↗ariyanzri/PlantSegNet.3.2pdf-raw-page:7 lines:1-145Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Europe PMC · checked 15 Sept 2026
Introduction: is a promising cellulosic feedstock crop for bioenergy due to its high biomass yields. However, early growth phases of sorghum are sensitive to cold stress, limiting its planting in temperate environments. Cold adaptability is crucial for cultivating bioenergy and grain sorghum at higher latitudes and elevations, or for extending the growing season. Identifying genes and alleles that enhance biomass accumulation under early cold stress can lead to improved sorghum varieties through breeding or genetic engineering. Methods: We conducted image-based phenotyping on 369 accessions from the sorghum Bioenergy Association Panel (BAP) in a controlled environment with early cold treatment. The BAP includes diverse accessions with dense genotyping and varied racial, geographical, and phenotypic backgrounds. Daily, non-destructive imaging allowed temporal analysis of growth-related traits and water use efficiency (WUE). A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed to identify genomic intervals and genes associated with cold stress response. Results: The GWAS identified transient quantitative trait loci (QTL) strongly associated with growth-related traits, enabling an exploration of the genetic basis of cold stress response at different developmental stages. This analysis of daily growth traits, rather than endpoint traits, revealed early transient QTL predictive of final phenotypes. The study identified both known and novel candidate genes associated with growth-related traits and temporal responses to cold stress. Discussion: The identified QTL and candidate genes contribute to understanding the genetic mechanisms underlying sorghum's response to cold stress. These findings can inform breeding and genetic engineering strategies to develop sorghum varieties with improved biomass yields and resilience to cold, facilitating earlier planting, extended growing seasons, and cultivation at higher latitudes and elevations.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods日次の非破壊画像計測を用いて成長関連形質とWUEを時系列で抽出し、早期表現型を解析しており、画像ベースの植物表現型取得が研究の主要な方法として記述されている。
abstractWe conducted image-based phenotyping on 369 accessions from the sorghum Bioenergy Association Panel (BAP) in a controlled environment with early cold treatment.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's image-derived phenotypic measurements and analysis tables (accession list with phenotypic data, germination data, heritability, trait rankings, SNP-trait correlations, candidate genes) are stated to be included in the article's Supplementary Materials, publicly available at the Frontiers supplementary URL. Supplement · publicof their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Supplementary material
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2024.1278802/full#supplementary-material
Supplementary File S1
Table of Bioenergy Association Panel accessions used in this study (adapted from Brenton et al., 2016 ) with image-derived phenotypic data.
Supplementary File S2
Heatmap of a kinship matrix showing correlation analysis among the 369 BAP accessions. The coloOpen asset ↗lines:229-258Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Europe PMC · checked 7 Sept 2026
The presence of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) in vascular land plant roots is one of the most ancient of symbioses supporting nitrogen and phosphorus exchange for photosynthetically derived carbon. Here we provide a multi-scale modeling approach to predict AMF colonization of a worldwide crop from a Recombinant Inbred Line (RIL) population derived from Sorghum bicolor and S. propinquum. The high-throughput phenotyping methods of fungal structures here rely on a Mask Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (Mask R-CNN) in computer vision for pixel-wise fungal structure segmentations and mixed linear models to explore the relations of AMF colonization, root niche, and fungal structure allocation. Models proposed capture over 95% of the variation in AMF colonization as a function of root niche and relative abundance of fungal structures in each plant. Arbuscule allocation is a significant predictor of AMF colonization among sibling plants. Arbuscules and extraradical hyphae implicated in nutrient exchange predict highest AMF colonization in the top root section. Our work demonstrates that deep learning can be used by the community for the high-throughput phenotyping of AMF in plant roots. Mixed linear modeling provides a framework for testing hypotheses about AMF colonization phenotypes as a function of root niche and fungal structure allocations.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods根内AMF構造をMask R-CNNで画素単位に分割し、AMF定着を高スループット推定する画像解析手法が研究の中心である。
abstractThe high-throughput phenotyping methods of fungal structures here rely on a Mask Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (Mask R-CNN) in computer vision for pixel-wise fungal structure segmentations
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's authors publicly release their segmentation/analysis code and summary data on GitHub, and the paper uses the public Cambridge AMF image dataset from Zenodo as training data. The >20,000 raw Georgia images are only available upon request.Code · publicCodes are available in GitHub: https://github.com/Arnold-Lab/image_seg_sorghum_am .Open asset ↗Arnold-Lab/image_seg_sorghum_amlines:222-293Dataset · publicThe publicly available Cambridge dataset (zenodo ID https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5118948 ) included 15 whole slide scanning imagesOpen asset ↗10.5281/zenodo.5118948lines:185-204Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 7 Sept 2026
Remote sensing enables the rapid assessment of many traits that provide valuable information to plant breeders throughout the growing season to improve genetic gain. These traits are often extracted from remote sensing data on a row segment (rows within a plot) basis enabling the quantitative assessment of any row-wise subset of plants in a plot, rather than a few individual representative plants, as is commonly done in field-based phenotyping. Nevertheless, which rows to include in analysis is still a matter of debate. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate row selection and plot trimming in field trials conducted using four-row plots with remote sensing traits extracted from RGB (red-green-blue), LiDAR (light detection and ranging), and VNIR (visible near infrared) hyperspectral data. Uncrewed aerial vehicle flights were conducted throughout the growing seasons of 2018 to 2021 with data collected on three years of a sorghum experiment and two years of a maize experiment. Traits were extracted from each plot based on all four row segments (RS) (RS1234), inner rows (RS23), outer rows (RS14), and individual rows (RS1, RS2, RS3, and RS4). Plot end trimming of 40 cm was an additional factor tested. Repeatability and predictive modeling of end-season yield were used to evaluate performance of these methodologies. Plot trimming was never shown to result in significantly different outcomes from non-trimmed plots. Significant differences were often observed based on differences in row selection. Plots with more row segments were often favorable for increasing repeatability, and excluding outer rows improved predictive modeling. These results support long-standing principles of experimental design in agronomy and should be considered in breeding programs that incorporate remote sensing.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsRGB・LiDAR・VNIRリモートセンシングによる作物形質抽出について、行選択とプロットトリミングを反復性・収量予測で評価しており、フェノタイピング手法の技術評価が中心である。
abstractThe objective of this experiment was to evaluate row selection and plot trimming in field trials conducted using four-row plots with remote sensing traits extracted from RGB (red-green-blue), LiDAR (light detection and ranging), and VNIR (visible near infrared) hyperspectral data.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper states that remote sensing data, yield data, and the authors' R analysis code are publicly deposited in the Purdue University Research Repository under DOI 10.4231/PF9S-4G38. This is a paper-specific, publicly actionable asset covering both the phenotyping measurements (RGB/LiDAR/VNIR remote sensing traits, 4Dataset · publicRemote sensing data, yield data, and R code used for this study are available at the Purdue University Research Repository (10.4231/PF9S-4G38).Open asset ↗Purdue University Research Repository · 10.4231/PF9S-4G38lines:404-413Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · Crossref · checked 7 Sept 2026
As phenomics data volume and dimensionality increase due to advancements in sensor technology, there is an urgent need to develop and implement scalable data processing pipelines. Current phenomics data processing pipelines lack modularity, extensibility, and processing distribution across sensor modalities and phenotyping platforms. To address these challenges, we developed PhytoOracle (PO), a suite of modular, scalable pipelines for processing large volumes of field phenomics RGB, thermal, PSII chlorophyll fluorescence 2D images, and 3D point clouds. PhytoOracle aims to ( i ) improve data processing efficiency; ( ii ) provide an extensible, reproducible computing framework; and ( iii ) enable data fusion of multi-modal phenomics data. PhytoOracle integrates open-source distributed computing frameworks for parallel processing on high-performance computing, cloud, and local computing environments. Each pipeline component is available as a standalone container, providing transferability, extensibility, and reproducibility. The PO pipeline extracts and associates individual plant traits across sensor modalities and collection time points, representing a unique multi-system approach to addressing the genotype-phenotype gap. To date, PO supports lettuce and sorghum phenotypic trait extraction, with a goal of widening the range of supported species in the future. At the maximum number of cores tested in this study (1,024 cores), PO processing times were: 235 minutes for 9,270 RGB images (140.7 GB), 235 minutes for 9,270 thermal images (5.4 GB), and 13 minutes for 39,678 PSII images (86.2 GB). These processing times represent end-to-end processing, from raw data to fully processed numerical phenotypic trait data. Repeatability values of 0.39-0.95 (bounding area), 0.81-0.95 (axis-aligned bounding volume), 0.79-0.94 (oriented bounding volume), 0.83-0.95 (plant height), and 0.81-0.95 (number of points) were observed in Field Scanalyzer data. We also show the ability of PO to process drone data with a repeatability of 0.55-0.95 (bounding area).
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods植物フェノミクスのマルチモーダル画像・点群から形質を抽出する、スケーラブルで再現可能な処理パイプラインの開発と反復性評価が中心である。
abstractwe developed PhytoOracle (PO), a suite of modular, scalable pipelines for processing large volumes of field phenomics RGB, thermal, PSII chlorophyll fluorescence 2D images, and 3D point clouds.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's Code and Data Availability statements provide explicit public URLs for the authors' PhytoOracle processing code, ML training-data preparation scripts, trained model training code, and the season-10 lettuce benchmarking dataset (raw RGB/thermal/PSII images and point clouds) hosted on CyVerse.Dataset · publicThe datasets presented in this study can be found in online repositories. The names of the repository/repositories and accession number(s) can be found below: https://datacommons.cyverse.org/browse/iplant/home/shared/phytooracle/season_10_lettuce_yr_2020Open asset ↗iplant/home/shared/phytooracle/season_10_lettuce_yr_2020lines:640-662Code · publicThe automation script and data processing repositories can be accessed at: http://github.com/phytooracleOpen asset ↗github.com/phytooraclelines:640-662Code · publicThe Python scripts used to prepare RGB training data can be accessed here: http://github.com/phytooracle/automation/blob/main/ml/collect_rgb_data.pyOpen asset ↗github.com/phytooracle/automationlines:640-662Code · publicThe Python script used to prepare thermal training data can be accessed here: http://github.com/phytooracle/automation/blob/main/ml/collect_flir_data.pyOpen asset ↗github.com/phytooracle/automationlines:640-662Code · publicThe Python script used to prepare 3D-derived images can be found here: http://github.com/phytooracle/3d_heat_map/blob/main/3d_heat_map.pyOpen asset ↗github.com/phytooracle/3d_heat_maplines:640-662Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · OpenAlex · Crossref · checked 15 Sept 2026
Current methods of root sampling typically only obtain small or incomplete sections of root systems and do not capture their true complexity. To facilitate the visualization and analysis of full-sized plant root systems in 3-dimensions, we developed customized mesocosm growth containers. While highly scalable, the design presented here uses an internal volume of 45 ft 3 (1.27 m 3 ), suitable for large crop and bioenergy grass root systems to grow largely unconstrained. Furthermore, they allow for the excavation and preservation of 3-dimensional root system architecture (RSA), and facilitate the collection of time-resolved subterranean environmental data. Sensor arrays monitoring matric potential, temperature and CO 2 levels are buried in a grid formation at various depths to assess environmental fluxes at regular intervals. Methods of 3D data visualization of fluxes were developed to allow for comparison with root system architectural traits. Following harvest, the recovered root system can be digitally reconstructed in 3D through photogrammetry, which is an inexpensive method requiring only an appropriate studio space and a digital camera. We developed a pipeline to extract features from the 3D point clouds, or from derived skeletons that include point cloud voxel number as a proxy for biomass, total root system length, volume, depth, convex hull volume and solidity as a function of depth. Ground-truthing these features with biomass measurements from manually dissected root systems showed a high correlation. We evaluated switchgrass, maize, and sorghum root systems to highlight the capability for species wide comparisons. We focused on two switchgrass ecotypes, upland (VS16) and lowland (WBC3), in identical environments to demonstrate widely different root system architectures that may be indicative of core differences in their rhizoeconomic foraging strategies. Finally, we imposed a strong physiological water stress and manipulated the growth medium to demonstrate whole root system plasticity in response to environmental stimuli. Hence, these new "3D Root Mesocosms" and accompanying computational analysis provides a new paradigm for study of mature crop systems and the environmental fluxes that shape them.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods3Dルートメソコスム、フォトグラメトリ、点群解析による根系形態形質の取得・検証が研究の中心であり、植物フェノタイピング手法に該当する。
abstractTo facilitate the visualization and analysis of full-sized plant root systems in 3-dimensions, we developed customized mesocosm growth containers.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's supplementary videos on figshare are photogrammetry-generated 3D point clouds of the paper's own root system phenotyping measurements (sorghum, maize, and switchgrass root systems, including stress-conditioned and sensor-flux coaligned visualizations), publicly downloadable. The OpenCV link is a generic, unDataset · publice, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Supplementary material
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.1041404/full#supplementary-material . Videos can be found for viewing and download at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21335898.v1 .
Supplementary Figure 1
Interpolation of 3-dimensional environmental sensor data.
Click here for additional data file.
Supplementary Figure 2
Time course of shoot morphological responses of switchgrass in different growth media.
Click here for additional data file.
Supplementary Figure 3
Manual post-process cleaning of Open asset ↗figshare · 10.6084/m9.figshare.21335898.v1lines:327-356Code / dataset availability confirmedarXiv · OpenAlex · checked 15 Sept 2026
In this paper, we present a method for creating high-quality 3D models of sorghum panicles for phenotyping in breeding experiments. This is achieved with a novel reconstruction approach that uses seeds as semantic landmarks in both 2D and 3D. To evaluate the performance, we develop a new metric for assessing the quality of reconstructed point clouds without having a ground-truth point cloud. Finally, a counting method is presented where the density of seed centers in the 3D model allows 2D counts from multiple views to be effectively combined into a whole-panicle count. We demonstrate that using this method to estimate seed count and weight for sorghum outperforms count extrapolation from 2D images, an approach used in most state of the art methods for seeds and grains of comparable size.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsソルガム穂の3D再構成と種子計数という植物形質取得手法を開発し、再構成品質評価指標と種子数・重量推定を検証しており、フェノタイピング手法が中心である。
abstractwe present a method for creating high-quality 3D models of sorghum panicles for phenotyping in breeding experiments
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's authors publicly release their sorghum panicle stereo-image dataset (camera poses, human-labeled seed segmentations, panicle weights, seed counts) via the CMU AIIRA resources page, which is an allowed URL.Dataset · publicection, some unremoved husks were counted as seeds by the counting machine despite manual efforts to separate seeds from husks. We expect the effect on the ground truth to be small. The stereo images, camera poses, human-labeled seed segmentations, panicle weights, and human-counted seed counts can be found in our dataset 3 3
3
https://labs.ri.cmu.edu/aiira/resources/ .
Figure 8: (a) 100 sorghum panicles from 10 different sorghum species. (b) Our data collection system, a stereo camera attached to the UR5 robot arm. (c) Seeds were manually stripped and (d) counted using a seed counting machine.
IV-B 3D Reconstruction Quality
We assess the effectiveness of our approach with ablation tests usiOpen asset ↗lines:141-165Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Crossref · checked 14 Sept 2026
Lodging is one of the major constraints in attaining high yield in crop production. Major factors associated with stalk lodging involve morphological traits and anatomical features along with the chemical composition of the stem. However, little relevant research has been carried out in sorghum, particularly on the anatomical aspects. In this study, with a high-throughput procedure newly developed by our research group, the nine parameters related to stem regions and vascular bundles were generated in 58 sorghum germplasm accessions grown in two successive seasons. Correlation analysis and principal component analysis were conducted to investigate the relationship between anatomical aspects and stalk mechanical traits (breaking force, stalk strength and lodging index). It was found that most vascular parameters were positively associated with breaking force and lodging index with the correlation coefficient r varying from −0.46 to 0.64, whereas stalk strength was only associated with rind area with the r = 0.38. The germplasm resources can be divided into two contrasting categories (classes I with 23 accessions and II with 30 accessions). Compared to class II, the class I was characterized by a larger number (+40.7%) and bigger vascular bundle (+30%), thicker stem (+19.6%) and thicker rind (+36.0%) but shorter internode (plant) (−91.0%). This study provides the methodology and information for the studies of the stem anatomical parameters in crops and facilitates the selective breeding of sorghum.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsソルガム茎の断面形態・維管束形質を抽出する新規ハイスループット手順が研究の中心であり、機械的特性との関連も評価しているため。
abstractwith a high-throughput procedure newly developed by our research group, the nine parameters related to stem regions and vascular bundles were generated
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 · publicThe Python codes were provided as
Supplementary Material in PDF format (Figure S1).Open asset ↗pdf-page:4 lines:1-59Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 8 Sept 2026
Sorghum, a genetically diverse C 4 cereal, is an ideal model to study natural variation in photosynthetic capacity. Specific leaf nitrogen (SLN) and leaf mass per leaf area (LMA), as well as, maximal rates of Rubisco carboxylation ( V cmax ), phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylation ( V pmax ), and electron transport ( J max ), quantified using a C 4 photosynthesis model, were evaluated in two field-grown training sets ( n = 169 plots including 124 genotypes) in 2019 and 2020. Partial least square regression (PLSR) was used to predict V cmax ( R 2 = 0.83), V pmax ( R 2 = 0.93), J max ( R 2 = 0.76), SLN ( R 2 = 0.82), and LMA ( R 2 = 0.68) from tractor-based hyperspectral sensing. Further assessments of the capability of the PLSR models for V cmax , V pmax , J max , SLN, and LMA were conducted by extrapolating these models to two trials of genome-wide association studies adjacent to the training sets in 2019 ( n = 875 plots including 650 genotypes) and 2020 ( n = 912 plots with 634 genotypes). The predicted traits showed medium to high heritability and genome-wide association studies using the predicted values identified four QTL for V cmax and two QTL for J max . Candidate genes within 200 kb of the V cmax QTL were involved in nitrogen storage, which is closely associated with Rubisco, while not directly associated with Rubisco activity per se . J max QTL was enriched for candidate genes involved in electron transport. These outcomes suggest the methods here are of great promise to effectively screen large germplasm collections for enhanced photosynthetic capacity.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsトラクター搭載ハイパースペクトルセンシングとPLSRにより光合成関連形質を推定し、独立試験でモデル性能を評価している。形質取得法の開発・検証と大規模スクリーニングへの応用が中心である。
abstractPartial least square regression (PLSR) was used to predict V cmax ( R 2 = 0.83), V pmax ( R 2 = 0.93), J max ( R 2 = 0.76), SLN ( R 2 = 0.82), and LMA ( R 2 = 0.68) from tractor-based hyperspectral sensing.
Reproduction assets foundThe authors state that all phenotypic data used to develop the PLSR models (ground truth Vcmax, Vpmax, Jmax, SLN, LMA and associated hyperspectral measurements) is publicly available via a UQ eSpace DOI. Genotypic marker data is only available upon request and is not a phenotyping asset. No author analysis code or URLsDataset · publicAll phenotypic data used to develop the models presented in this manuscript is available here: https://doi.org/10.48610/acbe0df .Open asset ↗10.48610/acbe0dflines:488-522Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Europe PMC · checked 8 Sept 2026
MaizeSorghumMultispectral / hyperspectralPhysiological trait estimationWater status / transpiration
Lack of high-throughput phenotyping is a bottleneck to breeding for abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants. Efficient and non-destructive hyperspectral imaging can quantify plant physiological traits under abiotic stresses; however, prediction models generally are developed for few genotypes of one species, limiting the broader applications of this technology. Therefore, the objective of this research was to explore the possibility of developing cross-species models to predict physiological traits (relative water content and nitrogen content) based on hyperspectral reflectance through partial least square regression for three genotypes of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and six genotypes of corn (Zea mays L.) under varying water and nitrogen treatments. Multi-species models were predictive for the relative water content of sorghum and corn (R2 = 0.809), as well as for the nitrogen content of sorghum and corn (R2 = 0.637). Reflectances at 506, 535, 583, 627, 652, 694, 722, and 964 nm were responsive to changes in the relative water content, while the reflectances at 486, 521, 625, 680, 699, and 754 nm were responsive to changes in the nitrogen content. High-throughput hyperspectral imaging can be used to predict physiological status of plants across genotypes and some similar species with acceptable accuracy.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsハイスループット hyperspectral imaging と回帰モデルにより、植物の相対含水量・窒素含量という生理形質を非破壊推定する手法を開発・評価しており、フェノタイピング手法が研究の中心である。
abstractLack of high-throughput phenotyping is a bottleneck to breeding for abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's hyperspectral reflectance measurements, RWC/NC ground-reference trait data, and metadata are explicitly deposited in the Purdue University Research Repository (PURR) with a public URL stated in the Data Availability Statement. The MDPI supplement contains only stepwise regression tables, model evaluation, VDataset · publicData and meta-data are available at The Purdue University Research Repository (PURR), https://purr.purdue.edu/publications/3958/1 (accessed on 30 January 2022).Open asset ↗The Purdue University Research Repository (PURR)lines:222-238Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 14 Sept 2026
Achieving global goals on sustainable nutrition, health, and wellbeing will depend on delivering enhanced diets to humankind. This will require, among others, instantaneous access to information on food quality at key points within agri-food systems. Although stationary methods are usually used to quantify grain quality (wet-lab chemistry, benchtop NIR spectrometer); these do not suit many required user-cases, such as stakeholders in decentralized agri-food-chains that are typical for emerging economies. Therefore, we explored new technologies and models that might aid these particular user-cases. For this purpose, we generated the NIR spectra of 328 grain samples from multiple cereals (finger millet, foxtail millet, maize, pearl millet, sorghum) with a standard benchtop NIR Spectrometer (DS2500, FOSS) and a novel mobile NIR-based sensor (HL-EVT5, Hone). We explored a range of classical deterministic and novel machine learning (ML)-driven models to build calibrations out of the NIR spectra. We were able to build relevant calibrations out of both types of spectra. At the same time, ML-based methods enhanced the prediction capacity of calibration models compared to classical deterministic methods. We also documented that the prediction of grain protein content based on NIR spectra generated by a mobile sensor (HL-EVT5, Hone) was highly relevant for quantitative protein predictions (R2 = 0.91, RMSE = 0.97, RPD = 3.48). Thus, the findings of this study lay the foundations on which to expand the utilization of NIR spectroscopy applications for agricultural research and development.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods穀粒という植物器官のタンパク質含量をNIRセンサーと機械学習で推定する校正モデルを開発・評価しており、形質取得・抽出法が研究の中心である。
abstractWe explored a range of classical deterministic and novel machine learning (ML)-driven models to build calibrations out of the NIR spectra.
Reproduction assets foundThe authors explicitly state that the custom CNN analysis code for this paper's NIR protein-prediction models is publicly available on GitHub at the authors' repository URL, which matches an allowed URL. Supplementary tables are only referenced via a placeholder (www.mdpi.com/xxx/s1) and are not actionable; the Video SCode · publicced by the quality
and size of the datasets used for training the model. To minimize the “over-fitting” error,
the large dataset was used and split carefully to include the different multi-cereal species
in both the calibration and validation dataset (as described in section 2.5.1). The code is
available on the GitHub platform (https://github.com/adamavip/nirs-protein-prediction)
and its particular parts can be now utilized to enhance and develop other pipelines and
products.
For our dataset, the algorithms built using ML-based methods (particularly, the
stacked ensemble model via Hone Create and custom-designed CNN; section 3.4)
achieved the better comparative metrics for both spectra typesOpen asset ↗adamavip/nirs-protein-predictionpdf-raw-page:14 lines:1-54Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Europe PMC · checked 8 Sept 2026
Abstract Background Stalk lodging (mechanical failure of plant stems during windstorms) leads to global yield losses in cereal crops estimated to range from 5% to 25% annually. The cross-sectional morphology of plant stalks is a key determinant of stalk lodging resistance. However, previously developed techniques for quantifying cross-sectional morphology of plant stalks are relatively low-throughput, expensive and often require specialized equipment and expertise. There is need for a simple and cost-effective technique to quantify plant traits related to stalk lodging resistance in a high-throughput manner. Results A new phenotyping methodology was developed and applied to a range of plant samples including, maize ( Zea mays ), sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ), wheat ( Triticum aestivum ), poison hemlock ( Conium maculatum ), and Arabidopsis (Arabis thaliana). The major diameter, minor diameter, rind thickness and number of vascular bundles were quantified for each of these plant types. Linear correlation analyses demonstrated strong agreement between the newly developed method and more time-consuming manual techniques (R 2 > 0.9). In addition, the new method was used to generate several specimen-specific finite element models of plant stalks. All the models compiled without issue and were successfully imported into finite element software for analysis. All the models demonstrated reasonable and stable solutions when subjected to realistic applied loads. Conclusions A rapid, low-cost, and user-friendly phenotyping methodology was developed to quantify two-dimensional plant cross-sections. The methodology offers reduced sample preparation time and cost as compared to previously developed techniques. The new methodology employs a stereoscope and a semi-automated image processing algorithm. The algorithm can be used to produce specimen-specific, dimensionally accurate computational models (including finite element models) of plant stalks.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods植物茎の横断面形態を高スループットに定量する画像ベースの表現型計測法を開発し、手作業法との一致性検証と有限要素モデルへの応用を行っており、方法が研究の中心である。
abstractA new phenotyping methodology was developed and applied to a range of plant samples
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's MATLAB image-processing algorithm (authors' analysis code) and sample cross-sectional images are publicly available as supplementary files (Additional files 2 and 3) attached to this open-access article, along with standard operating protocols (Additional file 1). These directly reproduce the paper's phenotCode · publicThe code for the image-processing algorithm is also provided as Additional file 2 . Sample images and instructions are provided as Additional file 3 .Open asset ↗lines:110-119Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · OpenAlex · Crossref · checked 8 Sept 2026
Selection for yield at high planting density has reshaped the leaf canopy of maize, improving photosynthetic productivity in high density settings. Further optimization of canopy architecture may be possible. However, measuring leaf angles, the widely studied component trait of leaf canopy architecture, by hand is a labor and time intensive process. Here, we use multiple, calibrated, 2D images to reconstruct the 3D geometry of individual sorghum plants using a voxel carving based algorithm. Automatic skeletonization and segmentation of these 3D geometries enable quantification of the angle of each leaf for each plant. The resulting measurements are both heritable and correlated with manually collected leaf angles. This automated and scaleable reconstruction approach was employed to measure leaf-by-leaf angles for a population of 366 sorghum plants at multiple time points, resulting in 971 successful reconstructions and 3,376 leaf angle measurements from individual leaves. A genome wide association study conducted using aggregated leaf angle data identified a known large effect leaf angle gene, several previously identified leaf angle QTL from a sorghum NAM population, and novel signals. Genome wide association studies conducted separately for three individual sorghum leaves identified a number of the same signals, a previously unreported signal shared across multiple leaves, and signals near the sorghum orthologs of two maize genes known to influence leaf angle. Automated measurement of individual leaves and mapping variants associated with leaf angle reduce the barriers to engineering ideal canopy architectures in sorghum and other grain crops.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods3D画像再構成、骨格化、セグメンテーションによりソルガム個葉角度を自動定量する手法が研究の中心であり、手作業測定との検証と大規模適用も行っている。
abstractwe use multiple, calibrated, 2D images to reconstruct the 3D geometry of individual sorghum plants using a voxel carving based algorithm.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's Data Availability statement provides three public, paper-specific assets: the voxel carving/skeletonization reconstruction code on GitHub, the raw RGB phenotyping images on Zenodo, and the phenotypic data, GWAS result files, and figure code on GitHub.Code · publicThe code for reconstruction and skeletonization is available at GitHub: https://github.com/cropsinsilico/SorghumVoxelCarving .Open asset ↗cropsinsilico/SorghumVoxelCarvinglines:351-493Code · publicThe phenotypic data, GWAS result files and code for main figures are available at GitHub: https://github.com/mtross2/Sorghum-3D-Reconstruction .Open asset ↗mtross2/Sorghum-3D-Reconstructionlines:351-493Code / dataset availability confirmedbioRxiv · Europe PMC · OpenAlex · Crossref · checked 8 Sept 2026
Selection for yield at high planting density has reshaped the leaf canopy of maize, improving photosynthetic productivity in high density settings. Further optimization of canopy architecture may be possible. However, measuring leaf angles, the widely studied component trait of leaf canopy architecture, by hand is a labor and time intensive process. Here, we use multiple, calibrated, 2D images to reconstruct the 3D geometry of individual sorghum plants using a voxel carving based algorithm. Automatic skeletonization and segmentation of these 3D geometries enable quantification of the angle of each leaf for each plant. The resulting measurements are both heritable and correlated with manually collected leaf angles. This automated and scaleable reconstruction approach was employed to measure leaf-by-leaf angles for a population of 366 sorghum plants at multiple time points, resulting in 971 successful reconstructions and 3,376 leaf angle measurements from individual leaves. A genome wide association study conducted using aggregated leaf angle data identified a known large effect leaf angle gene, several previously identified leaf angle QTL from a sorghum NAM population, and novel signals. Genome wide association studies conducted separately for three individual sorghum leaves identified a number of the same signals, a previously unreported signal shared across multiple leaves, and signals near the sorghum orthologs of two maize genes known to influence leaf angle. Automated measurement of individual leaves and mapping variants associated with leaf angle reduce the barriers to engineering ideal canopy architectures in sorghum and other grain crops.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods複数の較正2D画像から3D植物形状を再構成し、葉ごとの葉角度を自動抽出する手法が研究の中心であり、遺伝性・手動測定との相関による検証も行っている。
abstractwe use multiple, calibrated, 2D images to reconstruct the 3D geometry of individual sorghum plants using a voxel carving based algorithm.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's Data and Code availability statement provides three paper-specific public assets: the voxel carving/skeletonization code (GitHub cropsinsilico/SorghumVoxelCarving), the raw sorghum images analyzed (Zenodo deposit 10.5281/zenodo.4426620), and the phenotypic data, GWAS result files, and figure code (GitHub mtCode · publicThe code for reconstruction and skeletonization is hosted on GitHub: https://github.com/cropsinsilico/
SorghumVoxelCarving.Open asset ↗pdf-page:9 lines:1-59Code · publicPhenotypic data, GWAS result files and code for main figures are located on GitHub:
https://github.com/mtross2/Sorghum-3D-ReconstructionOpen asset ↗mtross2/Sorghum-3D-Reconstructionpdf-page:9 lines:1-59Code / dataset availability confirmedCrossref · checked 15 Sept 2026
Abstract Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a model C4 crop made experimentally tractable by extensive genomic and genetic resources. Biomass sorghum is studied as a feedstock for biofuel and forage. Mechanistic modeling suggests that reducing stomatal conductance (gs) could improve sorghum intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) and biomass production. Phenotyping to discover genotype-to-phenotype associations remains a bottleneck in understanding the mechanistic basis for natural variation in gs and iWUE. This study addressed multiple methodological limitations. Optical tomography and a machine learning tool were combined to measure stomatal density (SD). This was combined with rapid measurements of leaf photosynthetic gas exchange and specific leaf area (SLA). These traits were the subject of genome-wide association study and transcriptome-wide association study across 869 field-grown biomass sorghum accessions. The ratio of intracellular to ambient CO2 was genetically correlated with SD, SLA, gs, and biomass production. Plasticity in SD and SLA was interrelated with each other and with productivity across wet and dry growing seasons. Moderate-to-high heritability of traits studied across the large mapping population validated associations between DNA sequence variation or RNA transcript abundance and trait variation. A total of 394 unique genes underpinning variation in WUE-related traits are described with higher confidence because they were identified in multiple independent tests. This list was enriched in genes whose Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) putative orthologs have functions related to stomatal or leaf development and leaf gas exchange, as well as genes with nonsynonymous/missense variants. These advances in methodology and knowledge will facilitate improving C4 crop WUE.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods光学トモグラフィーと機械学習ツールによる気孔密度測定を中心的な方法として開発・適用し、ガス交換等の表現型を大規模集団で評価しているため。
abstractThis study addressed multiple methodological limitations. Optical tomography and a machine learning tool were combined to measure stomatal density (SD).
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's optical tomography leaf images (the sensor inputs used for machine-learning stomatal density phenotyping) are publicly deposited in the Illinois Data Bank. Phenotypic trait data (Supplemental Table S12) are public but only via the article's supplemental material without a listed URL; RNA-seq (PRJNA522466) GDataset · publichttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA522466/ .
Genotyping-by-sequencing data are available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5019227 . Phenotypic data are available as
part of the supplemental
material ( Supplemental Table
S12 ). Optical tomography images from this article can be found in the Illinois
Data Bank under: https://doi.org/10.13012/B2IDB-1411926_V1 .
Supplemental data
The following materials are available in the online version of this article.Open asset ↗10.13012/B2IDB-1411926_V1lines:985-1051Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Europe PMC · Crossref · checked 14 Sept 2026
The accuracy of trait measurements greatly affects the quality of genetic analyses. During automated phenotyping, trait measurement errors, i.e. differences between automatically extracted trait values and ground truth, are often treated as random effects that can be controlled by increasing population sizes and/or replication number. In contrast, there is some evidence that trait measurement errors may be partially under genetic control. Consistent with this hypothesis, we observed substantial nonrandom, genetic contributions to trait measurement errors for five maize (Zea mays) tassel traits collected using an image-based phenotyping platform. The phenotyping accuracy varied according to whether a tassel exhibited "open" versus. "closed" branching architecture, which is itself under genetic control. Trait-associated SNPs (TASs) identified via genome-wide association studies (GWASs) conducted on five tassel traits that had been phenotyped both manually (i.e. ground truth) and via feature extraction from images exhibit little overlap. Furthermore, identification of TASs from GWASs conducted on the differences between the two values indicated that a fraction of measurement error is under genetic control. Similar results were obtained in a sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) plant height dataset, demonstrating that trait measurement error is genetically determined in multiple species and traits. Trait measurement bias cannot be controlled by increasing population size and/or replication number.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods画像ベース高スループット表現型測定の自動抽出値を手動測定（ground truth）と比較し、測定誤差と精度を遺伝的に評価しているため、表現型取得法の技術的検証が中心です。
abstractDuring automated phenotyping, trait measurement errors, i.e. differences between automatically extracted trait values and ground truth, are often treated as random effects
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 · publicThe codes used for automated tassel segmentation, skeleton construction and trait extraction are available at https://github.com/schnablelab/Tassel-Image-Trait-Extraction-Tool .Open asset ↗schnablelab/Tassel-Image-Trait-Extraction-Toollines:170-188Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · checked 8 Sept 2026
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) carrying multispectral cameras are increasingly being used for high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) of above-ground traits of crops to study genetic diversity, resource use efficiency and responses to abiotic or biotic stresses. There is significant unexplored potential for repeated data collection through a field season to reveal information on the rates of growth and provide predictions of the final yield. Generating such information early in the season would create opportunities for more efficient in-depth phenotyping and germplasm selection. This study tested the use of high-resolution time-series imagery (5 or 10 sampling dates) to understand the relationships between growth dynamics, temporal resolution and end-of-season above-ground biomass (AGB) in 869 diverse accessions of highly productive (mean AGB = 23.4 Mg/Ha), photoperiod sensitive sorghum. Canopy surface height (CSM), ground cover (GC), and five common spectral indices were considered as features of the crop phenotype. Spline curve fitting was used to integrate data from single flights into continuous time courses. Random Forest was used to predict end-of-season AGB from aerial imagery, and to identify the most informative variables driving predictions. Improved prediction of end-of-season AGB (RMSE reduction of 0.24 Mg/Ha) was achieved earlier in the growing season (10 to 20 days) by leveraging early- and mid-season measurement of the rate of change of geometric and spectral features. Early in the season, dynamic traits describing the rates of change of CSM and GC predicted end-of-season AGB best. Late in the season, CSM on a given date was the most influential predictor of end-of-season AGB. The power to predict end-of-season AGB was greatest at 50 days after planting, accounting for 63% of variance across this very diverse germplasm collection with modest error (RMSE 1.8 Mg/ha). End-of-season AGB could be predicted equally well when spline fitting was performed on data collected from five flights versus 10 flights over the growing season. This demonstrates a more valuable and efficient approach to using UAVs for HTP, while also proposing strategies to add further value.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsUAV時系列画像から作物形質を抽出し、成長動態と収穫期バイオマスを予測するHTP手法を、サンプリング頻度や予測性能とともに技術的に評価しており、フェノタイピング手法が中心である。
abstractUnmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) carrying multispectral cameras are increasingly being used for high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) of above-ground traits of crops
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's UAV-derived sorghum phenotyping datasets (imagery features, AGB measurements) are deposited in the Illinois Databank with a public DOI listed in the Data Availability Statement. No author analysis code or trained models are explicitly shared.Dataset · publicData Availability Statement: The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available
from the corresponding author via Illinois Databank at https://doi.org/10.13012/B2IDB-5649852_V2.Open asset ↗Illinois Databank · B2IDB-5649852_V2pdf-page:14 lines:1-59Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Europe PMC · checked 14 Sept 2026
In plant breeding, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) carrying multispectral cameras have demonstrated increasing utility for high-throughput phenotyping (HTP) to aid the interpretation of genotype and environment effects on morphological, biochemical, and physiological traits. A key constraint remains the reduced resolution and quality extracted from "stitched" mosaics generated from UAV missions across large areas. This can be addressed by generating high-quality reflectance data from a single nadir image per plot. In this study, a pipeline was developed to derive reflectance data from raw multispectral UAV images that preserve the original high spatial and spectral resolutions and to use these for phenotyping applications. Sequential steps involved (i) imagery calibration, (ii) spectral band alignment, (iii) backward calculation, (iv) plot segmentation, and (v) application. Each step was designed and optimised to estimate the number of plants and count sorghum heads within each breeding plot. Using a derived nadir image of each plot, the coefficients of determination were 0.90 and 0.86 for estimates of the number of sorghum plants and heads, respectively. Furthermore, the reflectance information acquired from the different spectral bands showed appreciably high discriminative ability for sorghum head colours (i.e., red and white). Deployment of this pipeline allowed accurate segmentation of crop organs at the canopy level across many diverse field plots with minimal training needed from machine learning approaches.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsUAVマルチスペクトル画像から反射率を抽出し、圃場区画内の植物数・穂数・穂色を推定するパイプラインの開発と精度評価が中心であり、植物表現型取得手法に該当する。
abstractIn this study, a pipeline was developed to derive reflectance data from raw multispectral UAV images that preserve the original high spatial and spectral resolutions and to use these for phenotyping applications.
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 · publicTrial details, sample imagery, and essential codes used in this article can be accessed through https://github.com/YanZhao15/AltumApplication.git .Open asset ↗YanZhao15/AltumApplicationlines:150-152Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · Crossref · Europe PMC · checked 8 Sept 2026
Plant counting runs through almost every stage of agricultural production from seed breeding, germination, cultivation, fertilization, pollination to yield estimation, and harvesting. With the prevalence of digital cameras, graphics processing units and deep learning-based computer vision technology, plant counting has gradually shifted from traditional manual observation to vision-based automated solutions. One of popular solutions is a state-of-the-art object detection technique called Faster R-CNN where plant counts can be estimated from the number of bounding boxes detected. It has become a standard configuration for many plant counting systems in plant phenotyping. Faster R-CNN, however, is expensive in computation, particularly when dealing with high-resolution images. Unfortunately high-resolution imagery is frequently used in modern plant phenotyping platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles, engendering inefficient image analysis. Such inefficiency largely limits the throughput of a phenotyping system. The goal of this work hence is to provide an effective and efficient tool for high-throughput plant counting from high-resolution RGB imagery. In contrast to conventional object detection, we encourage another promising paradigm termed object counting where plant counts are directly regressed from images, without detecting bounding boxes. In this work, by profiling the computational bottleneck, we implement a fast version of a state-of-the-art plant counting model TasselNetV2 with several minor yet effective modifications. We also provide insights why these modifications make sense. This fast version, TasselNetV2+, runs an order of magnitude faster than TasselNetV2, achieving around 30 fps on image resolution of 1980 × 1080, while it still retains the same level of counting accuracy. We validate its effectiveness on three plant counting tasks, including wheat ears counting, maize tassels counting, and sorghum heads counting. To encourage the use of this tool, our implementation has been made available online at https://tinyurl.com/TasselNetV2plus.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods高速・高スループットな植物カウント手法を開発し、複数作物で検証した植物フェノタイピング手法の中心的研究。
abstractThe goal of this work hence is to provide an effective and efficient tool for high-throughput plant counting from high-resolution RGB imagery.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's authors publicly released their TasselNetV2+ PyTorch implementation (the paper's plant counting/phenotyping analysis code) online. The three plant counting datasets used are cited prior datasets, not paper-specific deposits.Code · publicTo encourage the use of this tool, our implementation has been made available online at https://tinyurl.com/TasselNetV2plusOpen asset ↗TasselNetV2pluslines:225-304Code / 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 · Europe PMC · checked 9 Sept 2026
Changes in canopy architecture traits have been shown to contribute to yield increases. Optimizing both light interception and light interception efficiency of agricultural crop canopies will be essential to meeting the growing food needs. Canopy architecture is inherently three-dimensional (3D), but many approaches to measuring canopy architecture component traits treat the canopy as a two-dimensional (2D) structure to make large scale measurement, selective breeding, and gene identification logistically feasible. We develop a high throughput voxel carving strategy to reconstruct 3D representations of sorghum from a small number of RGB photos. Our approach builds on the voxel carving algorithm to allow for fully automatic reconstruction of hundreds of plants. It was employed to generate 3D reconstructions of individual plants within a sorghum association population at the late vegetative stage of development. Light interception parameters estimated from these reconstructions enabled the identification of known and previously unreported loci controlling light interception efficiency in sorghum. The approach is generalizable and scalable, and it enables 3D reconstructions from existing plant high throughput phenotyping datasets. We also propose a set of best practices to increase 3D reconstructions' accuracy.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsソルガムのRGB画像から3D植物体を自動再構成し、光 interception 特性を推定する高スループット手法の開発が中心であるため。
abstractWe develop a high throughput voxel carving strategy to reconstruct 3D representations of sorghum from a small number of RGB photos.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's voxel carving analysis code is explicitly stated as publicly available on GitHub. The raw images, 3D reconstructions, and trait values were only promised for future DataDryad deposit with no URL, so they are not actionable. The FigShare deposit contains genetic marker data (molecular omics), not phenotypingCode · publicThe code is available at https://github.com/cropsinsilico/SorghumVoxelCarving .Open asset ↗https://github.com/cropsinsilico/SorghumVoxelCarvinglines:289-474Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 15 Sept 2026
Premise Maize yields have significantly increased over the past half-century owing to advances in breeding and agronomic practices. Plants have been grown in increasingly higher densities due to changes in plant architecture resulting in plants with more upright leaves, which allows more efficient light interception for photosynthesis. Natural variation for leaf angle has been identified in maize and sorghum using multiple mapping populations. However, conventional phenotyping techniques for leaf angle are low throughput and labor intensive, and therefore hinder a mechanistic understanding of how the leaf angle of individual leaves changes over time in response to the environment. Methods High-throughput time series image data from water-deprived maize ( Zea mays subsp. mays ) and sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ) were obtained using battery-powered time-lapse cameras. A MATLAB-based image processing framework, Leaf Angle eXtractor (LAX), was developed to extract and quantify leaf angles from images of maize and sorghum plants under drought conditions. Results Leaf angle measurements showed differences in leaf responses to drought in maize and sorghum. Tracking leaf angle changes at intervals as short as one minute enabled distinguishing leaves that showed signs of wilting under water deprivation from other leaves on the same plant that did not show wilting during the same time period. Discussion Automating leaf angle measurements using LAX makes it feasible to perform large-scale experiments to evaluate, understand, and exploit the spatial and temporal variations in plant response to water limitations.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsLAXは画像から葉角度を抽出・定量するために開発された高スループット画像処理フレームワークであり、植物表現型取得手法が研究の中心です。
abstractA MATLAB-based image processing framework, Leaf Angle eXtractor (LAX), was developed to extract and quantify leaf angles from images of maize and sorghum plants under drought conditions.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's authors explicitly state that the LAX source code and GUI are publicly available on GitHub, and the paper's time-lapse image data (Video S1) is publicly hosted on Vimeo. Both are paper-specific, public, and actionable.Code · publicnowledgments
This study was supported by a Science without Borders scholarship (214038/2014‐9) to D.S.C., by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (award 2016‐67013‐24613) to J.C.S., and by the National Science Foundation (grant no. OIA‐1557417).
Data Availability
The source code and GUI interface are available at https://github.com/Kenchanmane‐Raju/Leaf‐Angle‐eXtractor .
LITERATURE CITED
Araus , J. L.
,
S. C.
Kefauver
,
M.
Zaman‐Allah
,
M. S.
Olsen
, and
J. E.
Cairns
. 2018
Translating high‐throughput phenotyping into genetic gain
. Trends in Plant Science
23 ( 5 ): 451 – 466 .
29555431
10.1016/j.tplants.2018.02.001
PMC5931794
Awada , L.
,
P. W. B.
Phillips
, and
S. J.
Smyth
.Open asset ↗Kenchanmane‐Raju/Leaf‐Angle‐eXtractorlines:182-386Dataset · publicgle boxes and leaf number. Clicking the ‘Export Data’ icon at the bottom outputs leaf angle measurements for the selected leaves as a .csv file .
Click here for additional data file.
VIDEO S1. Time‐lapse video showing the drop of maize leaves in response to water deficit stress over a single day. This video is also available at https://vimeo.com/256137800 .
Click here for additional data file.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by a Science without Borders scholarship (214038/2014‐9) to D.S.C., by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (award 2016‐67013‐24613) to J.C.S., and by the National Science Foundation (grant no. OIA‐1557417).
Data Availability
The sourOpen asset ↗lines:182-386Code / dataset availability confirmedCrossref · Europe PMC · checked 9 Sept 2026
Summary Inflorescence architecture in plants is often complex and challenging to quantify, particularly for inflorescences of cereal grasses. Methods for capturing inflorescence architecture and for analyzing the resulting data are limited to a few easily captured parameters that may miss the rich underlying diversity. Here, we apply X‐ray computed tomography combined with detailed morphometrics, offering new imaging and computational tools to analyze three‐dimensional inflorescence architecture. To show the power of this approach, we focus on the panicles of Sorghum bicolor , which vary extensively in numbers, lengths, and angles of primary branches, as well as the three‐dimensional shape, size, and distribution of the seed. We imaged and comprehensively evaluated the panicle morphology of 55 sorghum accessions that represent the five botanical races in the most common classification system of the species, defined by genetic data. We used our data to determine the reliability of the morphological characters for assigning specimens to race and found that seed features were particularly informative. However, the extensive overlap between botanical races in multivariate trait space indicates that the phenotypic range of each group extends well beyond its overall genetic background, indicating unexpectedly weak correlation between morphology, genetic identity, and domestication history.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsX線CTと詳細な形態計測を組み合わせ、ソルガム穂の3次元形態を取得・解析する画像ベース表現型手法が研究の中心であるため。
abstractHere, we apply X‐ray computed tomography combined with detailed morphometrics, offering new imaging and computational tools to analyze three‐dimensional inflorescence architecture.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper explicitly states that the full 3D X-ray imaging dataset of sorghum panicles is publicly downloadable from the Topp lab resources page, and that all image processing, feature extraction, and statistical analysis code is available in a public GitHub repository (Topp-Roots-Lab/3D-Sorghum-Inflorescence). Both URDataset · publicThe full 3D imaging dataset for this work can be downloaded from: https://www.danforthcenter.org/scientists‐research/principal‐investigators/chris‐topp/resourcesOpen asset ↗lines:51-62Code · publicAll code used for image processing, digital feature extraction, and statistical analysis from this study can be found at the following GitHub repository: https://github.com/Topp‐Roots‐Lab/3D‐Sorghum‐InflorescenceOpen asset ↗Topp‐Roots‐Lab/3D‐Sorghum‐Inflorescencelines:51-62Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 9 Sept 2026
This study describes the evaluation of a range of approaches to semantic segmentation of hyperspectral images of sorghum plants, classifying each pixel as either nonplant or belonging to one of the three organ types (leaf, stalk, panicle). While many current methods for segmentation focus on separating plant pixels from background, organ-specific segmentation makes it feasible to measure a wider range of plant properties. Manually scored training data for a set of hyperspectral images collected from a sorghum association population was used to train and evaluate a set of supervised classification models. Many algorithms show acceptable accuracy for this classification task. Algorithms trained on sorghum data are able to accurately classify maize leaves and stalks, but fail to accurately classify maize reproductive organs which are not directly equivalent to sorghum panicles. Trait measurements extracted from semantic segmentation of sorghum organs can be used to identify both genes known to be controlling variation in a previously measured phenotypes (e.g., panicle size and plant height) as well as identify signals for genes controlling traits not previously quantified in this population (e.g., stalk/leaf ratio). Organ level semantic segmentation provides opportunities to identify genes controlling variation in a wide range of morphological phenotypes in sorghum, maize, and other related grain crops.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsイネ科植物のハイパースペクトル画像から器官をセグメンテーションし、形態形質を抽出する手法を開発・評価しており、表現型取得法が研究の中心です。
abstractThis study describes the evaluation of a range of approaches to semantic segmentation of hyperspectral images of sorghum plants, classifying each pixel as either nonplant or belonging to one of the three organ types (leaf, stalk, panicle).
Reproduction assets foundThe paper deposits its authors' analysis code, extracted phenotypes, and manually annotated sorghum/maize pixel data in a public GitHub repository, and its Zooniverse crowdsourcing project (used to generate the pixel annotations) is publicly accessible. Both are paper-specific, public, and actionable.Code · publicAll the R and python code implemented in this study, phenotypes extracted from segmented sorghum images, and the manually annotated sorghum and maize pixels have been deposited on GitHub at https://github.com/freemao/Sorghum_Semantic_Segmentation .Open asset ↗https://github.com/freemao/Sorghum_Semantic_Segmentationlines:85-113Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 9 Sept 2026
Seed shape is an important agronomic trait with continuous variation among genotypes. Therefore, the quantitative evaluation of this variation is highly important. Among geometric morphometrics methods, elliptic Fourier analysis and semi-landmark analysis are often used for the quantification of biological shape variations. Elliptic Fourier analysis is an approximation method to treat contours as a waveform. Semi-landmark analysis is a method of superimposed points in which the differences of multiple contour positions are minimized. However, no detailed comparison of these methods has been undertaken. Moreover, these shape descriptors vary when the scale and direction of the contour and the starting point of the contour trace change. Thus, these methods should be compared with respect to the standardization of the scale and direction of the contour and the starting point of the contour trace. In the present study, we evaluated seed shape variations in a sorghum (Sorghum bicolor Moench) germplasm collection to analyze the association between shape variations and genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms by genomic prediction (GP) and genome-wide association studies (GWAS). In our analysis, we used all possible combinations of three shape description methods and eight standardization procedures for the scale and direction of the contour as well as the starting point of the contour trace; these combinations were compared in terms of GP accuracy and the GWAS results. We compared the shape description methods (elliptic Fourier descriptors and the coordinates of superposed pseudo-landmark points) and found that principal component analysis of their quantitative descriptors yielded similar results. Different scaling and direction standardization procedures caused differences in the principal component scores, average shape, and the results of GP and GWAS.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsソルガム種子形状という植物形態形質の定量化手法を比較・標準化し、GP精度とGWAS結果で評価しており、形質取得・抽出法が研究の中心である。
abstractAmong geometric morphometrics methods, elliptic Fourier analysis and semi-landmark analysis are often used for the quantification of biological shape variations.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's seed contour shape data (the phenotyping measurements used for GP/GWAS) are publicly deposited in the authors' GitHub repository, explicitly stated in the Data Availability statement. Supporting tables (S1–S3) also contain accession lists and GWAS results but the GitHub repository is the primary paper-qualiDataset · publicData Availability: All seed counter shape data are available from the https://github.com/risasakamoto/Comparison-of-shape-quantification-methods .Open asset ↗risasakamoto/Comparison-of-shape-quantification-methodslines:177-188Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 15 Sept 2026
MaizeSorghumField / plotRootMorphology / geometry measurementRoot system architecture
Determining the genetic control of root system architecture (RSA) in plants via large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) requires high-throughput pipelines for root phenotyping. We developed Core Root Excavation using Compressed-air (CREAMD), a high-throughput pipeline for the cleaning of field-grown roots, and Core Root Feature Extraction (COFE), a semiautomated pipeline for the extraction of RSA traits from images. CREAMD-COFE was applied to diversity panels of maize ( Zea mays ) and sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor ), which consisted of 369 and 294 genotypes, respectively. Six RSA-traits were extracted from images collected from >3,300 maize roots and >1,470 sorghum roots. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based GWAS identified 87 TAS (trait-associated SNPs) in maize, representing 77 genes and 115 TAS in sorghum. An additional 62 RSA-associated maize genes were identified via expression read depth GWAS. Among the 139 maize RSA-associated genes (or their homologs), 22 (16%) are known to affect RSA in maize or other species. In addition, 26 RSA-associated genes are coregulated with genes previously shown to affect RSA and 51 (37% of RSA-associated genes) are themselves transe-quantitative trait locus for another RSA-associated gene. Finally, the finding that RSA-associated genes from maize and sorghum included seven pairs of syntenic genes demonstrates the conservation of regulation of morphology across taxa.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods根系形態の画像取得・特徴抽出パイプライン（CREAMD-COFE）の開発が研究の中心であり、RSA形質を大規模に抽出しているため。
abstractWe developed Core Root Excavation using Compressed-air (CREAMD), a high-throughput pipeline for the cleaning of field-grown roots, and Core Root Feature Extraction (COFE), a semiautomated pipeline for the extraction of RSA traits from images.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's COFE root-image analysis software is explicitly stated to be publicly available on Bitbucket, and the paper's RSA phenotype measurements (maize BLUP trait values and sorghum trait values) are released as supplemental tables accessible with the article.Code · publiche Maize273 and SAM273
panels is a subset of the data used for the root-GWAS of the SAM Diversity
Panel. GWAS was conducted with the same protocol as in comparative GWAS
between maize and sorghum (see above section), except an arbitrarily relaxed
window of 100 kb, centered on the TAS was used here.
COFE Software is available at https://bitbucket.org/baskargroup/cofe/src/master/.Accession Numbers
The maize sequence data from this article can be found in the GenBank/
EMBL data libraries under accession numbers SRP055871. The sorghum SNP
data were downloaded from https://www.morrislab.org/data.Supplemental Data
The following supplemental materials are available.
Supplemental Text S1. CREAMD-COOpen asset ↗baskargroup/cofepdf-raw-page:12 lines:1-84Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 14 Sept 2026
The yield of cereal crops such as sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) depends on the distribution of crop-heads in varying branching arrangements. Therefore, counting the head number per unit area is critical for plant breeders to correlate with the genotypic variation in a specific breeding field. However, measuring such phenotypic traits manually is an extremely labor-intensive process and suffers from low efficiency and human errors. Moreover, the process is almost infeasible for large-scale breeding plantations or experiments. Machine learning-based approaches like deep convolutional neural network (CNN) based object detectors are promising tools for efficient object detection and counting. However, a significant limitation of such deep learning-based approaches is that they typically require a massive amount of hand-labeled images for training, which is still a tedious process. Here, we propose an active learning inspired weakly supervised deep learning framework for sorghum head detection and counting from UAV-based images. We demonstrate that it is possible to significantly reduce human labeling effort without compromising final model performance ( R 2 between human count and machine count is 0.88) by using a semitrained CNN model (i.e., trained with limited labeled data) to perform synthetic annotation. In addition, we also visualize key features that the network learns. This improves trustworthiness by enabling users to better understand and trust the decisions that the trained deep learning model makes.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsUAV画像からソルガム穂数を検出・計数する弱教師あり深層学習手法を開発し、人的計数との性能も検証しており、植物表現型取得が研究の中心です。
abstractHere, we propose an active learning inspired weakly supervised deep learning framework for sorghum head detection and counting from UAV-based images.
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 · publicThe codes used for generating results and reproducing the results presented in this work are available at DeepSorghumHead ( https://github.com/oceam/DeepSorghumHead ).Open asset ↗DeepSorghumHeadlines:66-80Code / dataset availability confirmedOpenAlex · arXiv · checked 10 Sept 2026
A looming question that must be solved before robotic plant phenotyping capabilities can have significant impact to crop improvement programs is scalability. High Throughput Phenotyping (HTP) uses robotic technologies to analyze crops in order to determine species with favorable traits, however, the current practices rely on exhaustive coverage and data collection from the entire crop field being monitored under the breeding experiment. This works well in relatively small agricultural fields but can not be scaled to the larger ones, thus limiting the progress of genetics research. In this work, we propose an active learning algorithm to enable an autonomous system to collect the most informative samples in order to accurately learn the distribution of phenotypes in the field with the help of a Gaussian Process model. We demonstrate the superior performance of our proposed algorithm compared to the current practices on sorghum phenotype data collection.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods植物表現型データ収集を効率化する能動学習・ガウス過程アルゴリズムを開発し、ソルガムの表現型データで既存手法と比較評価しており、表現型取得ワークフローが中心である。
abstractIn this work, we propose an active learning algorithm to enable an autonomous system to collect the most informative samples in order to accurately learn the distribution of phenotypes in the field with the help of a Gaussian Process model.
Reproduction assets foundThe authors explicitly open-sourced their code repository, simulation environment, and the sorghum phenotype dataset used in this paper, with a public GitHub URL.Code · publicWe have open-sourced our code repository, simulation environment and the sorghum dataset 1 1
1
Our github repository can be found at https://github.com/sumitsk/algp.git for the research community to carry out further work in this direction.Open asset ↗sumitsk/algp · sumitsk/algplines:55-75Dataset · publicOur simulation environment, code repository and the sorghum dataset are open-sourced and can be found at https://github.com/sumitsk/algp.git .Open asset ↗sumitsk/algp · sumitsk/algplines:180-200Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 10 Sept 2026
Sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) is a C4 tropical grass that plays an essential role in providing nutrition to humans and livestock, particularly in marginal rainfall environments. The timing of head development and the number of heads per unit area are key adaptation traits to consider in agronomy and breeding but are time consuming and labor intensive to measure. We propose a two-step machine-based image processing method to detect and count the number of heads from high-resolution images captured by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in a breeding trial. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, 52 images were manually labeled; the precision and recall of head detection were 0.87 and 0.98, respectively, and the coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) between the manual and new methods of counting was 0.84. To verify the utility of the method in breeding programs, a geolocation-based plot segmentation method was applied to pre-processed ortho-mosaic images to extract >1000 plots from original RGB images. Forty of these plots were randomly selected and labeled manually; the precision and recall of detection were 0.82 and 0.98, respectively, and the coefficient of determination between manual and algorithm counting was 0.56, with the major source of error being related to the morphology of plants resulting in heads being displayed both within and outside the plot in which the plants were sown, i.e., being allocated to a neighboring plot. Finally, the potential applications in yield estimation from UAV-based imagery from agronomy experiments and scouting of production fields are also discussed.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methodsUAV画像からソルガムの穂の外観と数を抽出する画像処理法を開発し、手動ラベルとの精度・再現性を検証しており、植物形質取得法が研究の中心である。
abstractWe propose a two-step machine-based image processing method to detect and count the number of heads from high-resolution images captured by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in a breeding trial.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper's sorghum head detection/counting training data and manually labeled image datasets (Datasets 1 and 2) are explicitly stated to be available in the article's Supplementary Materials, hosted at the Frontiers supplementary-material URL. This is a paper-specific, publicly accessible asset containing the phenotypDataset · publicTo aid in this growth, datasets 1 and 2 along with the manual labeling used in this study are available in the Supplementary Materials .Open asset ↗lines:410-460Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · OpenAlex · checked 10 Sept 2026
Sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a rapidly growing, high-biomass crop prized for abiotic stress tolerance. However, measuring genotype-by-environment (G x E) interactions remains a progress bottleneck. We subjected a panel of 30 genetically diverse sorghum genotypes to a spectrum of nitrogen deprivation and measured responses using high-throughput phenotyping technology followed by ionomic profiling. Responses were quantified using shape (16 measurable outputs), color (hue and intensity), and ionome (18 elements). We measured the speed at which specific genotypes respond to environmental conditions, in terms of both biomass and color changes, and identified individual genotypes that perform most favorably. With this analysis, we present a novel approach to quantifying color-based stress indicators over time. Additionally, ionomic profiling was conducted as an independent, low-cost, and high-throughput option for characterizing G x E, identifying the elements most affected by either genotype or treatment and suggesting signaling that occurs in response to the environment. This entire dataset and associated scripts are made available through an open-access, user-friendly, web-based interface. In summary, this work provides analysis tools for visualizing and quantifying plant abiotic stress responses over time. These methods can be deployed as a time-efficient method of dissecting the genetic mechanisms used by sorghum to respond to the environment to accelerate crop improvement.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods植物の形状・色・バイオマス変化を高スループットに定量化し、時間経過に伴うストレス応答解析ツールと公開データセットを提示しており、表現型取得・解析が研究の中心である。
abstractmeasured responses using high-throughput phenotyping technology
Reproduction assets foundThe authors explicitly state that the raw phenotyping data (approximately 90,000 images' worth of shape/color measurements) and the analysis scripts used to generate the manuscript figures are publicly available through the PlantCV Danforth Center sorghum abiotic stress dataset page. This is a paper-specific, publicly,Dataset · publicScripts used to make the figures within this manuscript, along with the raw data, are available here: http://plantcv.danforthcenter.org/pages/data-sets/sorghum_abiotic_stress.htmlOpen asset ↗plantcv.danforthcenter.orglines:130-134Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · bioRxiv · OpenAlex · Crossref · checked 15 Sept 2026
ABSTRACT Sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a rapidly growing, high-biomass crop prized for abiotic stress tolerance. However, measuring genotype-by-environment (G × E) interactions remains a progress bottleneck. Here we describe strategies for identifying shape, color and ionomic indicators of plant nitrogen use efficiency. We subjected a panel of 30 genetically diverse sorghum genotypes to a spectrum of nitrogen deprivation and measured responses using high-throughput phenotyping technology followed by ionomic profiling. Responses were quantified using shape (16 measurable outputs), color (hue and intensity) and ionome (18 elements). We measured the speed at which specific genotypes respond to environmental conditions, both in terms of biomass and color changes, and identified individual genotypes that perform most favorably. With this analysis we present a novel approach to quantifying color-based stress indicators over time. Additionally, ionomic profiling was conducted as an independent, low cost and high throughput option for characterizing G × E, identifying the elements most affected by either genotype or treatment and suggesting signaling that occurs in response to the environment. This entire dataset and associated scripts are made available through an open access, user-friendly, web-based interface. In summary, this work provides analysis tools for visualizing and quantifying plant abiotic stress responses over time. These methods can be deployed as a time-efficient method of dissecting the genetic mechanisms used by sorghum to respond to the environment to accelerate crop improvement.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods高スループット画像計測による形状・色・バイオマス応答の定量化と、経時的なストレス指標の解析手法が研究の中心であり、データセットと解析スクリプトも提供している。
abstractmeasured responses using high-throughput phenotyping technology followed by ionomic profiling
Reproduction assets foundThe authors publicly release the raw phenotyping data and figure-generating analysis scripts for this sorghum nitrogen-stress study via the PlantCV Danforth Center data-sets page, which is an allowed URL.Dataset · public29 concentrations in the two lower nitrogen treatment groups significantly affects shape but
130 not color. To further explore the effect that our experimental treatments had on the
131 measured shape characteristics and color for each individual genotype, an interactive
132 version of the generated data is available here:
133 (http://plantcv.danforthcenter.org/pages/data-sets/sorghum_abiotic_stress.html).
134 Many factors contribute to the ability of plants to utilize nutrients and presumably,
135 much of this is genetically explained. Correspondingly, genotype was a highly significant
136 variable (p-value = 0.003 when measuring area) within this dataset. To investigate how
137 much nitrogOpen asset ↗pdf-layout-page:5 lines:1-40Code / dataset availability confirmedEurope PMC · checked 11 Sept 2026
Dissecting the genetic basis of complex traits is aided by frequent and nondestructive measurements. Advances in range imaging technologies enable the rapid acquisition of three-dimensional (3D) data from an imaged scene. A depth camera was used to acquire images of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), an important grain, forage, and bioenergy crop, at multiple developmental time points from a greenhouse-grown recombinant inbred line population. A semiautomated software pipeline was developed and used to generate segmented, 3D plant reconstructions from the images. Automated measurements made from 3D plant reconstructions identified quantitative trait loci for standard measures of shoot architecture, such as shoot height, leaf angle, and leaf length, and for novel composite traits, such as shoot compactness. The phenotypic variability associated with some of the quantitative trait loci displayed differences in temporal prevalence; for example, alleles closely linked with the sorghum Dwarf3 gene, an auxin transporter and pleiotropic regulator of both leaf inclination angle and shoot height, influence leaf angle prior to an effect on shoot height. Furthermore, variability in composite phenotypes that measure overall shoot architecture, such as shoot compactness, is regulated by loci underlying component phenotypes like leaf angle. As such, depth imaging is an economical and rapid method to acquire shoot architecture phenotypes in agriculturally important plants like sorghum to study the genetic basis of complex traits.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods深度画像から3D植物再構成と形質自動計測を行う半自動パイプラインを開発し、ソルガムの草型形質を取得する方法が研究の中心である。
abstractA semiautomated software pipeline was developed and used to generate segmented, 3D plant reconstructions from the images.
Reproduction assets foundThe authors explicitly deposit their image acquisition/processing and QTL mapping code (C++, Bash, Python, R) plus genotype/phenotype data on GitHub, and per-plant depth images, RGB images, and segmented meshes on Dryad. Both are paper-specific, public, and actionable.Code · publicThe C++, Bash, and Python code written for image acquisition and processing, the R code written for QTL mapping, the genotype and phenotype data, and the full multiple- QTL models for each phenotype-by-time point combination can be found on GitHub at https://github.com/MulletLab/SorghumReconstructionAndPhenotyping .Open asset ↗MulletLab/SorghumReconstructionAndPhenotypinglines:240-292Dataset · publicFor each imaged plant, its depth images, a single RGB image, and the segmented mesh can be found at the Dryad Digital Repository ( http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9vs26 ).Open asset ↗Dryad Digital Repository · 10.5061/dryad.9vs26lines:240-292Code / dataset availability confirmedbioRxiv · Europe PMC · Crossref · checked 11 Sept 2026
Dissecting the genetic basis of complex traits is aided by frequent and non-destructive measurements. Advances in range imaging technologies enable the rapid acquisition of three-dimensional (3D) data from an imaged scene. A depth camera was used to acquire images of Sorghum bicolor, an important grain, forage, and bioenergy crop, at multiple developmental timepoints from a greenhouse-grown recombinant inbred line population. A semi-automated software pipeline was developed and used to generate segmented, 3D plant reconstructions from the images. Automated measurements made from 3D plant reconstructions identified quantitative trait loci (QTL) for standard measures of shoot architecture such as shoot height, leaf angle and leaf length, and for novel composite traits such as shoot compactness. The phenotypic variability associated with some of the QTL displayed differences in temporal prevalence; for example, alleles closely linked with the sorghum Dwarf3 gene, an auxin transporter and pleiotropic regulator of both leaf inclination angle and shoot height, influence leaf angle prior to an effect on shoot height. Furthermore, variability in composite phenotypes that measure overall shoot architecture, such as shoot compactness, is regulated by loci underlying component phenotypes like leaf angle. As such, depth imaging is an economical and rapid method to acquire shoot architecture phenotypes in agriculturally important plants like sorghum to study the genetic basis of complex traits.
Why it matches plant phenotyping methods深度画像から3D植物再構成と形質自動抽出を行う半自動パイプラインを開発し、ソルガムのシュート構造形質を取得・評価しており、表現型取得法が研究の中心です。
abstractA semi-automated software pipeline was developed and used to generate segmented, 3D plant reconstructions from the images.
Reproduction assets foundThe paper explicitly deposits its authors' image acquisition/processing and QTL mapping code on GitHub, and its per-plant depth images, RGB images, and segmented meshes on the Dryad repository. Both are paper-specific, public, and actionable.Code · publicThe C++, Bash, and Python code written for image acquisition and processing, the R code written for
QTL mapping, the genotype and phenotype data, and the full multiple-QTL models for each phenotype
by timepoint combination can be found on GitHub at
https://github.com/MulletLab/SorghumReconstructionAndPhenotyping.Open asset ↗MulletLab/SorghumReconstructionAndPhenotypingpdf-page:8 lines:1-43