Modular Systems

PlantScreen TM Modular System is integrated robotic solution for high-precission digital plant phenotyping and plant cultivation of mid-scale size up to large plants (e.g. corn, wheat) in greenhouse or semi-controlled environment. Single-pots are in transportation disks carried from cultivation area towards imaging units and irrigation stations. Digital data are acquired typically from top and multiple-angle side views.

Tailored solutions for large plants

Turning tables for 360° view imaging

LED light/dark adaptation tunnel

Precise irrigation and nutrient delivery schemes

Integrated environmental sensors

Comprehensive software package

PlantScreen TM Modular System PlantScreen TM Modular System is integrated robotic solution for high-precission digital plant phenotyping and plant cultivation of larger plants like maize or wheat throughout the entire life cycle. Single pot is placed in a transport disk, which can be equipped with different types of inserts to accomodate pots of different sizes.

The system can be integrated in existing greenhouse or semi-controlled environment. Single-pots are in transportation disks carried from cultivation area towards imaging units and irrigation stations. The inner disk format is modular providing flexibility of use with numerous different species, or with a single species throughout its growth cycle. Multi-sensoric digital data are acquired typically from top and side views.

The equipment is designed for plant cultivation and growth, plant management, automated movement, monitoring of environment parameters and plant randomization in the growth buffer. Area for manual loading of plants into the system is implemented which allows for manual loading and scoring of a subset of plants while automated scoring is in stand-by or waiting mode. This feature allows the user to test, analyse and score for a subset of plants while other plants are growing on the buffer and are scored in automated mode for example ones a day.

The configuration is optimized for semi-controlled environment and greenhouse applications and can be customized in terms of throughput and range of integrated digital sensors according to the research needs. PlantScreenTM Systems are complete phenotyping solutions used for plant handling and non-invasive comprehensive and reproducible assessment of various plant traits throughout the time.

Download the information brochure (pdf)

The platform may incorporate various modules for digital analysis of plant growth dynamics and physiological performance , an acclimatization chamber that may be used to equilibrate plants under controlled conditions, and a transportation system for automated delivery of plants to the imaging stations, manual handling zone and to irrigation and nutrient delivery units. Unique bar-code or RFID identifiers are used for plant identification. Plants are cultivated on the transportation buffer system and transported inside and between the cultivation area and rating area with adaptation tunnel and imaging units, and application area with automated weighing and watering stations. Manual handling zone is defined for plant manual management, sample handling, plant loading or treatment. The phenotyping system incorporates sensors for measurement of ambient conditions including temperature, relative humidity, PAR irradiance and spectral quality of the light.

A comprehensive PlantScreen TM Software package, with remote accessibility, is used to control all aspects of the transportation, irrigation and imaging modules, as well as for data acquisition, image analysis and data base configuration. The system is modular and designed so that additional features may be added as the user´s screening requirements evolve.

Plant Handling and Cultivation Key feature for high-throughput and reproducible plant phenotyping is control of suitable growth conditions, maintenance of precise irrigation regime and adaptation of plants prior physiological phenotyping. Equilibration of plants to user-defined environmental conditions is critically important when imaging leaf temperature and chlorophyll fluorescence kinetics, since data are dependent on irradiance conditions.

Plant Handling and Cultivation

PlantScreen TM Modular System integrates light and dark adaptation tunnel for plant acclimation prior physiological phenotyping, which is key feature of our phenotyping platforms. Adaptation tunnel consists of multichannel LED´s with programmable interface for defining desired light regime and specral quality. The precise setting of light intensity is programmable in smooth steps, with the maxima of 2000 µmol.m-2.s-1. Adaptation tunnel is located upstream of the imaging stations. The tunnel is constructed as a light isolated box with double automatic light-tight entrance and exit doors. The adaptation tunnel is designed for both light and dark adaptation of the plants prior reaching the imaging stations. The adaptation tunnel may be designed to accommodate one, or several lines of plants to allow dark or light plant adaptation ranging from a few minutes to tens of minutes.

High-precission irrigation system is integral part of the system for programable delivery of both water and nutrients to the plants throughout growth and/or measurement cycles. Watering and nutrient delivery may be combined with automated weighing of plants in pots so that specific watering regimes may be programmed in software. These regimes may be used to impose drought stress or waterlogging of varying degrees of severity, imposed rapidly or gradually. Water application is gentle, without spillage or splashing of soil, and is adjustable for the different pot sizes. Schemes for watering to exact volume, relative volume or predefined weight can be pre-defined for single plants or groups of plants.

Furthermore comprehensive suite of environmental sensors (humidity, temperature, light intensity, light quality) is available for the PlantScreenTM Phenotyping Systems. The physiological parameters deduced from the measurements acquired by imaging units can be correlated with the environmental parameters acquired from a number of environmental sensors implemented within the phenotyping unit.

Software control Comprehensive software package has been developed for system control, data acquisition, image analysis and database configuration . User friendly graphical interface is designed to control all hardware system components actions, to control and monitor environmental conditions and to design experiments with an extremely high level of flexibility. High-end industrial PC with touch screen is used for system control. Scheduling assistant with calendar function allows running multiple experiments simultaneously, provides different modes for experiment randomization, for treatment per plant or group of plants with different experimental protocols and plant handling regimes including dark/light adaptation or watering or nutrient delivery schemes.

All acquired imaging, environmental and watering/weighing data are stored in an SQL database, processed and available for inspection and further analysis in range of seconds after recording via user-friendly graphical interface. PlantScreen TM Data Analyser provides tools for data browsing, grouping, analysis, user-defined reprocessing and export. Multiple clients can be connected to the database, with different privileges assigned based on a built-in authentication mechanism. An SMS and mail notification service is integral part of the complete phenotyping system. 24-hour online support service is key component of the PlantScreen TM phenotyping solution.

Key features of IT solution Comprehensive software package for system control, data acquisition, image analysis and data base configuration Randomization of measurements Species-specific analysis Open database structure Remote access Automatic SMS and email notification service 24-hour online support service Online environmental monitoring

Comprehensive software package for system control, data acquisition, image analysis and data base configuration

Randomization of measurements