The application of plant phenotype sensors can accelerate crop breeding programs. One powerful sensing choice is the automated sensing system, which can be applied to plant science research and can be customized. This system can provide high spatiotemporal resolution data to describe the interaction between crops and weather changes under different environments. This can be integrated with the Internet for real-time monitoring and management of crops. This article will integrate a Raspberry Pi-based sensor (imaging) system with microclimate sensors to assess crop growth in spring wheat breeding trials and apply it to automated phenotype analysis.
System operating procedures at each time point
Spring wheat field trials
By studying the dynamic responses of crops and determining key growth stages (such as heading stage), the repeatability and selection efficiency of measurements can be improved, helping to develop high-performance crop varieties. This low-cost system consists of a Raspberry Pi computer and multiple cameras (RGB and multispectral), which can automatically capture and manage crop image data at user-defined time points throughout the season. The collected images are suitable for extracting quantifiable plant traits, and the images are automatically processed through Python scripts (an open-source programming language) to extract vegetation indices that represent crop growth and overall health. Efforts are currently underway to integrate the sensor system with the Internet for real-time data monitoring, enabling plant breeders to monitor multiple trials for timely crop management and decision-making.
Image processing pipeline before extracting vegetation indices
Box plot of average NDVI data during data collection at different time points and temperature data from two representative images
Source:
Sangjan W, Carter A, Pumphrey M, et al. Development of a Raspberry Pi-Based Sensor System for Automated In-Field Monitoring to Support Crop Breeding Programs. Inventions 2021, 6(2), 42; https://doi.org/10.3390/inventions6020042.
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