Jülich Plant Phenotyping Centre (JPPC)

Data Acquisition

• fixation of a root in a plane parallel to camera
• illumination with near infrared-diodes
• image sequence at high frequency in near infrared throughout day and night
• root tracker: the software moves the camera in such a way that the camera is tracking the growing root tip.

Image analysis

• optical flow analysis of image sequence resulting in velocity vector fields
• calculation of divergence to obtain growth maps

Results (example)

Spatial and temporal distribution of root growth illustraing typical growth patterns across a growing root

Walter A, Spies H, Terjung S, Kuesters R, Kirchgeßner N, Schurr U. 2002. Spatio-temporal dynamics of expansion growth in roots: automatic quantification of diurnal course and temperature response by digital image sequence processing. J. Exp. Bot. 53:689–98

Nagel KA, Schurr U, Walter A. 2006. Dynamics of root growth stimulation in Nicotiana tabacum in increasing light intensity. Plant Cell Environ.29:1936–45