GROWSCREEN Page

GrowScreen-PaGe is a non-invasive, high-throughput phenotyping system based on flat germination paper and digital imaging of roots.

GrowScreen-PaGe allows the acquisition of time series of the developing root systems of 500 plants in a typical experiment size, thereby enabling to quantify short-term variations in root system for different genotype panels. The system is suitable for phenotyping dicot and monocot plant species. Traits of interest include length of different root types (seminal, primary, laterals), vertical distribution and branching angles. With specific protocol adaptations to the overall protocol, this experimental setup is suitable for both monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous species.

Important parameters

Based on RGB imaging and a custom-made, portable imaging station, we have the ability to acquire pictures from (4 plants min–1) for a typical experiment size of about 500 plants. The image processing and analysis is automated to a large extent.

Selected Publications

Gioia, T., Galinski, A., Lenz, H., Müller, C., Lentz, J., Nagel, K., et al. (2016) GrowScreen-PaGe, a non-invasive, high-throughput phenotyping system based on germination paper to quantify crop phenotypic diversity and plasticity of root traits under varying nutrient supply. Functional plant biology 44(1), - [10.1071/FP16128]