Figure 3

The general strategies of phenotyping in plants. Illustration of the root-imaging platform. (1) Rice plants are grown in cylinders in gel-based media (sample preparation). (2) The cylinders are placed in a box containing water on the imaging turntable with backlighting. Computers control cameras attached to a four-post support system, which permits adjustments vertically and horizontally. Images are acquired through 360° (image-acquisition platform and data handling). (3) Cropped images from multiple angles are used for analysis (data processing). (4) Feature maps of root architecture that record values for a variety of root features, such as perimeter, depth, bushiness and volume, of each image (image/data analysis).