General Information
Application Cases
Added value in seed germination testing
Added value in seed germination testing Rice germination dynamics of five cultivars – LemnaTec SeedAIxpert case study. When testing germination of crop seeds, the intended use is the main driver for setting criteria to call a seed batch a “good” one. When sowing the [...]
Fruit phenotyping with LemnaTec multi-camera imaging and image processing.
Fruit phenotyping with LemnaTec multi-camera imaging and image processing. In tobacco plants, fruit capsule color indicates the maturity of the contained seeds. With progressing maturity, color changes from green over yellow to brown. When harvesting seeds, it is desired to have same levels of maturity and thus surface [...]
Plant Performance
Plant Performance Digital phenotyping delivers diverse parameters that describe the phenotypic appearance of a plant. In combination with time-course data, which indicate how the parameters change over time, such datasets give a holistic view on how a plant performs. The performance is not only the growth, but growth [...]
Plant disease severity determination
Plant disease severity determination In plant pathology, rating of disease symptoms is a frequent task to assess disease severity and thus determine e.g. the resistance level of a genotype or the efficiency of a plant protection agent. Symptom rating can comprise symptom counting, in particular if the disease [...]
LemnaTec software screens parasites at Zoetis
LemnaTec software screens parasites at Zoetis Zoetis, previously a subsidiary of Pfizer, is the largest animal health company in the world. The company provides a diverse portfolio of animal medicines and vaccines to meet the needs of veterinarians, pet owners and livestock farmers in more than 120 countries. At [...]
Vegetable seed germination assay
Seed quality is of highest importance, and germination is the most prominent key factor in seed quality. Frequently, seeds are placed on moist paper to assess germination, and many seed testing guidelines, e.g. ISTA rules, recommend top-of-paper tests for certain seed testing situations. The testing procedure as such - [...]
Petri dish growth assays – documenting and phenotyping
A common practice in laboratory tests, e.g. when studying functions of mutations, is growing seedlings on solid media in petri dishes. Such growth assays serve to compare phenotypic properties of mutants and wild types in an easy and fast manner. The phenotypic differences between mutants and wild types are [...]
The advantage of digital phenotyping in environmental stress assessment
The advantage of digital phenotyping in environmental stress assessment Abiotic stresses have large potential of damaging plants, and this is one of the major threats in crop production. Detecting and quantifying stress effects gives a strong advantage in rating plant performance and stress tolerance. Digital [...]
Brassica heat and drought phenotyping
A LemnaTec Scanalyzer at work: Environmental stresses frequently occur in combination, particularly the combination of high temperatures and low water availability is common during hot weather. Such stresses negatively affect plant growth and reproduction. In Brassica crops such stresses impair pod setting and filling and research is done to strengthen [...]
Glutathione, growth, and water deficit
LemnaTec's Chief Scientist Dr. Marcus Jansen has co-authored a paper on phenotyping studies to evaluate potential links between Glutathione, growth, and sensitivity to low water availability in Arabidopsis. Before joining LemnaTec in 2014, Marcus was working at Forschungszentrum Jülich and participated in a project on water deficit responses that [...]
Finding the right objects in an image
Digital phenotyping and digital seed testing essentially have two main parts: image acquisition and feature extraction from the image. The second part is challenging as soon as the background or surrounding is not homogeneous and if non-target objects are present that can be similar to the target objects. The [...]
Phenotyping root-shoot relations
What does the shoot tell us about the root conditions? Researchers followed this question by analysing phenotypes of melon plants (Cucumis melo) using a LemnaTec Conveyor Scanalyzer at the Agripheno research centre, Shanghai. The phenotyping system recorded visible light and NIR images. The LemnaGrid analytical software delivered sets of phenotypic [...]
Desert tomato plants grow at minimal water availability
Wild relatives of crops frequently are more resistant to environmental stress factors than modern crop cultivars. Therefore, wild relatives might be sources of genes that improve stress tolerance or resistance. A wild tomato species Solanum pennellii originating from desert environments has thick leaves and copes well with water limitation. [...]
Extending Hyperspectral Imaging for Plant Phenotyping to the UV-Range
Hyperspectral imaging is a powerful tool in phyisological phenotyping. In particular, assessments of plant disease can benefit from spectral imaging, and frequently non-visible wavelengths provide additional information to the spectral signatures derived from visible light. Together with our partners in the DePhenSe project we recently published a paper in [...]
Phenomics-Assisted Breeding with LemnaTec Scanalyzer
As climate change makes conditions for agriculture more adverse, plant breeding must speed up and deliver better adapted plants. Phenomics-assisted breeding can shift QTL detection to earlier stages of plant development so that breeding decisions can take place faster. The LemnaTec Scanalyzers can deliver phenomic data on young plants [...]
Gravimetric determination of water use with LemnaTec Scanalyzer
LemnaTec Conveyor Scanalyzers do imaging and image processing delivers traits such as digital biomass, but a further function is the high precision weighing and watering of the plants in the system. In a study on water use efficiency of Setaria plants, researchers at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center [...]
Phenotyping for heat-resilient tomato plants
Heat stress tolerating crops are highly desirable to enable better farming in tropical and subtropical areas and to better cope with climate change effects. Analysing gene functions in heat stress responses, researchers used a LemnaTec Scanalyzer for biovolume and colour determination of tomato plants under elevated temperatures. The digital [...]
Phytotoxicity Test in the Development of Ecofriendly Pesticides
In the current debate on pesticides causing environmental damage, the search for ecofriendly pesticides is gaining importance. Plants frequently contain compounds that counteract fungi or other plants; thus, such substances might be used in agriculture. However, it is important to rule out potential dangers before applying them in practical [...]
NIR Imaging for Water Potential Monitoring in Perennial Plants
Drought affects the water potential in the plant tissues. When water limitation reduces the water potential, many physiological processes become impaired and thus slow down or even stop. Monitoring water potential by non-invasive measures is an important tool for detecting stress induced by water limitation. NIR imaging can serve [...]
LemnaTec LabScanalyzer supports breeding for climate-resilient beans.
Beans are a key protein source for large parts of the world population, but bean plant cultivation is threatened by adverse climatic conditions. Breeding aims at improving future bean varieties for better yield performance under environmental stress. Researchers at the Mexican Colegio de Postgraduados Institute applied a LemnaTec LabScanalyzer [...]
Root Phenotyping with LemnaTec Software
Roots are challenging in any investigation – usually they are just not accessible because they are hidden in the substrate. Advanced phenotyping systems such as Growscreen Rhizo give access to roots, providing the best compromise of growing them in soil while having the possibility to observe them at a [...]
Phenotyping for improved biomass
When growing plants for bio-energy, it is highly desirable to avoid any competition with food production and to minimise any energy-demanding agricultural management such as fertilisation. Thus, ideally such plants grow on marginal land without adding fertiliser and without irrigation. The discrepancy between low resource availability and maximised biomass production [...]
LemnaTec classics: Image Processing for Duckweed Testing
Duckweed (Lemna sp.) is an indicator organism in ecotoxicology. Image processing for phenotypic classification of duckweed was the very first application case for LemnaTec and is mirrored in our name. Read here how it works.
Digital phenotyping in developing novel weed control
Weed control is becoming increasingly challenging because many herbicides become banned by authorities or weeds gain resistance against the active ingredients. Alternative methods frequently are labour- or energy- intensive. Exploring allelopathic substances might deliver novel weed control compounds. The duckweed growth inhibition test serves as an indicator whether a [...]
Analysing Seeds
Measuring the components of maize seeds On the surface of maize (Zea mays) seeds, areas of the embryo and the endosperm are visible, and fractions of these parts differ between maize cultivars. In yellow-seeded varieties, endosperm areas are darker-yellow, whereas the embryo areas are light-yellow [...]