High-throughput plant phenotyping platforms

Abstract

To meet the ever-increasing demand of food and feed for the burgeoning population, we need to double our food production by 2050 with a growth rate of about 2.4 %. This needs input-responsive, resource-use-efficient and short-duration genotypes which are stable and can perform well in an array of situations. For this, integrated breeding efforts connecting genomics and phenomics together are required. While a giant leap has been made in crop genotyping in the last two decades, especially with the development of next-generation DNA sequencing, the latest developments in automation, robotics, accurate environmental control and remote sensing facilities have offered opportunities for precise field phenotyping of crop plants through state-of-the-art high-throughput plant phenotyping platforms (HTPPs). Although the initially developed platforms had limitations with regard to accuracy, speed and ground clearance, the latest HTPPs are capable of taking multiple trait measurements simultaneously that have improved data acquisition as well as provide high-throughput phenotypic data required for crop breeding programmes. A number of analysis pipelines have also been developed which are equipped with high-speed computing. This chapter describes some of the most popular HTPPs and their specific features to achieve precision phenotypes in crop plants.