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Title: The rhizodynamics robot: Automated imaging system for studying long-term dynamic root growth
The study of plant root growth in real time has been difficult to achieve in an automated, high-throughput, and systematic fashion. Dynamic imaging of plant roots is important in order to discover novel root growth behaviors and to deepen our understanding of how roots interact with their environments. We designed and implemented the Generating Rhizodynamic Observations Over Time (GROOT) robot, an automated, high-throughput imaging system that enables time-lapse imaging of 90 containers of plants and their roots growing in a clear gel medium over the duration of weeks to months. The system uses low-cost, widely available materials. As a proof of concept, we employed GROOT to collect images of root growth ofOryza sativa,Hudsonia montana, and multiple species of orchids includingPlatanthera integrilabiaover six months. Beyond imaging plant roots, our system is highly customizable and can be used to collect time- lapse image data of different container sizes and configurations regardless of what is being imaged, making it applicable to many fields that require longitudinal time-lapse recording.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2310751 2310741 1806833
PAR ID:
10530438
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Editor(s):
Sinibaldi, Edoardo
Publisher / Repository:
PLOS ONE
Date Published:
Journal Name:
PLOS ONE
Volume:
18
Issue:
12
ISSN:
1932-6203
Page Range / eLocation ID:
e0295823
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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