Reliable data in toxicology

Assessing toxic effects of subtances using non-invasive phenotyping

  • Chemicals
  • Food additives
  • Pesticides, biocides

  • Ferilizers, growth regulators

  • Natural compounds
  • Wastewater
  • Industrial substances
  • Drugs

Toxicity Testing Made Easy and Accurate with LemnaTec

Understanding whether a substance is toxic to plants is critical in both research and regulatory testing. Whether you’re evaluating the effectiveness of a potential herbicide or ensuring that a compound doesn’t unintentionally harm plants in the environment, reliable testing methods are essential.

One widely accepted approach is the duckweed (Lemna) toxicity test—a standard in many ecotoxicology labs. This assay plays a vital role in environmental monitoring, product safety evaluations, and water quality assessments.

LemnaTec enhances this process with powerful imaging and image analysis tools designed specifically for duckweed-based toxicity testing. Our technology delivers precise, reproducible data, making it easier to detect even subtle effects on plant health.

But it doesn’t stop at duckweed. LemnaTec’s flexible and modular phenotyping systems also support:

  • Analyzing visible stress responses in plants exposed to salinity, contaminants, or other environmental stressors
  • Tracking movement or feeding behavior in small organisms like insects or mites

With LemnaTec, you can expand your ecotoxicological assessments—whether you’re studying plants, aquatic, or terrestrial organisms—using advanced, non-invasive digital phenotyping.

APPLICATION CASES

SOLUTIONS

  • LemnaTec Duckweed Analysis for toxicology assessments
    Duckweed growth inhibition tests are widely used for risk assessments in many areas. For instance, testing plant toxicity of chemicals, including plant protecting agents and other substances used in agriculture and gardening.
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  • Customer application example: 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.
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  • Customer application example: plant-derived bioactive compounds
    Conserving and protecting natural environments is highly valuable anyway. However, it promotes access to new sources of useful materials, too.
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  • Customer application example: toxicity assessment to develop eco-friendly fuel systems
    Fossil fuels have limited availability, and – most important – burning them endangers the world’s climatic system. Thus, there is an urgent demand for alternate, environment-friendly fuel systems.
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  • PhenoAIxpert (configured for toxicology tests)
    The versatile phenotyping system for laboratories – your entry to the phenotyping world.
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  • HyperAIxpert (configured for toxicology tests)
    The most flexible multi-sensor laboratory phenotyping system for Arabidopsis, seedlings, petri dishes, MTPs, and many more sample types.
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We bought a LemnaTec LabScanalyzer (the predecessor of PhenoAIxpert) in July 2018. The instrument was delivered to us and installed remotely by a Lemnatec technician that instructed us about the use of the instrument. We were happy about the service: very good communication and excellent instrument set-up. The Lemnatec LabScanalyzer works nicely and is even more user-friendly than we expected. Almost no training of new users is needed. We hope to expand the uses of the instrument to obtain additional phenotyping options in the future, by interacting with LemnaTec.

Prof. Pierdomenico Perata, School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy, Institute of life science