Crop phenotyping is a major bottleneck in current plant research. Field-based high-throughput phenotyping platforms are an important prerequisite to advance crop breeding. We developed a cable-suspended field phenotyping platform covering an area of ~1 ha. The system operates from 2 to 5 m above the canopy, enabling a high image resolution. It can carry payloads of up to 12 kg and can be operated under adverse weather conditions. This ensures regular measurements throughout the growing period even during cold, windy and moist conditions. Multiple sensors capture the reflectance spectrum, temperature, height or architecture of the canopy. Monitoring from early development to maturity at high temporal resolution allows the determination of dynamic traits and their correlation to environmental conditions throughout the entire season. We demonstrate the capabilities of the system with respect to monitoring canopy cover, canopy height and traits related to thermal and multi-spectral imaging by selected examples from winter wheat, maize and soybean. The system is discussed in the context of other, recently established field phenotyping approaches; such as ground-operating or aerial vehicles, which impose traffic on the field or require a higher distance to the canopy.

BackgroundPlant growth is a good indicator of crop performance and can be measured by different methods and on different spatial and temporal scales. In this study, we measured the canopy height growth of maize (Zea mays), soybean (Glycine max) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) under field conditions by terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). We tested the hypotheses whether such measurements are capable to elucidate (1) differences in architecture that exist between genotypes; (2) genotypic differences between canopy height growth during the season and (3) short-term growth fluctuations (within 24 h), which could e.g. indicate responses to rapidly fluctuating environmental conditions. The canopies were scanned with a commercially available 3D laser scanner and canopy height growth over time was analyzed with a novel and simple approach using spherical targets with fixed positions during the whole season. This way, a high precision of the measurement was obtained allowing for comparison of canopy parameters (e.g. canopy height growth) at subsequent time points.ResultsThree filtering approaches for canopy height calculation from TLS were evaluated and the most suitable approach was used for the subsequent analyses. For wheat, high coefficients of determination (R2) of the linear regression between manually measured and TLS-derived canopy height were achieved. The temporal resolution that can be achieved with our approach depends on the scanned crop. For maize, a temporal resolution of several hours can be achieved, whereas soybean is ideally scanned only once per day, after leaves have reached their most horizontal orientation. Additionally, we could show for maize that plant architectural traits are potentially detectable with our method.ConclusionsThe TLS approach presented here allows for measuring canopy height growth of different crops under field conditions with a high temporal resolution, depending on crop species. This method will enable advances in automated phenotyping for breeding and precision agriculture applications. In future studies, the TLS method can be readily applied to detect the effects of plant stresses such as drought, limited nutrient availability or compacted soil on different genotypes or on spatial variance in fields.

BackgroundWe present a novel method for quantitative analysis of dicot leaf expansion at high temporal resolution. Image sequences of growing leaves were assessed using a marker tracking algorithm. An important feature of the method is the attachment of dark beads that serve as artificial landmarks to the leaf margin. The beads are mechanically constricted to the focal plane of a camera. Leaf expansion is approximated by the increase in area of the polygon defined by the centers of mass of the beads surrounding the leaf. Fluctuating illumination conditions often pose serious problems for tracking natural structures of a leaf; this problem is circumvented here by the use of the beads.ResultsThe new method has been used to assess leaf growth in environmental situations with different illumination conditions that are typical in agricultural and biological experiments: Constant illumination via fluorescent light tubes in a climate chamber, a mix of natural and artificial illumination in a greenhouse and natural illumination of the situation on typical summer days in the field. Typical features of diel (24h) soybean leaf growth patterns were revealed in all three conditions, thereby demonstrating the general applicability of the method. Algorithms are provided to the entire community interested in using such approaches.ConclusionsThe implementation Martrack Leaf presented here is a robust method to investigate diel leaf growth rhythms both under natural and artificial illumination conditions. It will be beneficial for the further elucidation of genotype x environment x management interactions affecting leaf growth processes.

Leaf growth is controlled by various internal and external factors. Leaves of dicotyledonous plants show pronounced diel (24 h) growth patterns that are controlled by the circadian clock. To date, it is still uncertain whether diel leaf growth patterns remain constant throughout the development of a plant. In this study, we followed growth from the primary leaves to leaflets of the seventh trifoliate leaf of soybean (Glycine max) on the same plants with a recently developed imaging-based method under controlled conditions and at a high temporal resolution. We found that all leaflets displayed a consistent diel growth pattern with maximum growth towards the end of the night. In some leaves, growth maxima occurred somewhat later - at dawn - as long as the leaves were still in a very early developmental stage. Yet, overall, diel growth patterns of leaves from different positions within the canopy were highly synchronous. Therefore, the diel growth pattern of any leaf at a given point in time is representative for the overall diel growth pattern of the plant leaf canopy and a deviation from the normal diel growth pattern can indicate that the plant is currently facing stress.

In response to insect herbivory, plants release volatile blends that differ quantitatively, and in many cases also qualitatively, from those of undamaged plants. These altered blends can attract the herbivore's natural antagonists, and such herbivore-induced volatile blends have often been interpreted as co-evolved plant-insect antagonist signals. When comparing volatile profiles of infested Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera L. plants (Brassicales: Brassicaceae), on which Brevicoryne brassicae L. (Hemiptera: Aphididae) aphids are feeding, with previously infested plants (i.e., deprived of aphids four hours prior to volatile collection), we found that the emission of a particular volatile compound, the glucosinolate breakdown product allyl isothiocyanate, was significantly higher in the latter. We used dual choice olfactometry to evaluate attractiveness of plants and aphids to Diaeretiella rapae (M'Intosh 1855) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a parasitoid of B. brassicae. Previously infested plants deprived of the herbivore attracted significantly more parasitoids than infested plants, although aphid odours per se proved to be attractive. Mechanical damage approximating aphid stylet insertion remained without effect on emission of allyl isothiocyanate and on parasitoid response. The unexpected higher parasitoid attraction to previously infested than infested plants is discussed here from the perspective of the plant and the parasitoid, as well as from the herbivore. Results suggest that while the host-finding mechanism of D. rapae has not evolved to allow this parasitoid a discrimination between herbivore-infested and previously infested plants, the herbivore seems able to suppress emission of a key volatile, thereby reducing its own olfactory detectability to its specialised natural antagonist.