Disclosing the value of genetic diversity by high-throughput digital phenotyping

Unravelling the genetics behind a valuable crop trait can be hard work. And for sure it pays: when a plant breeder has a better understanding of the genetics of, for instance, a resistance to a certain disease, breeding innovative resistant varieties becomes feasible.

Fortunately, recent technological advancements have made it significantly easier to link traits to genetics and utilize that knowledge. On the genetic side, the reduction in cost and increase in speed of DNA sequencing has been a game changer.

On the plant trait side, also known as the plant phenotype, similar advancements have occurred and continue to evolve.

Take KeyGene’s research into identifying plants posing a specific trait like resistance to a disease, for the development of improved crops. One of KeyGene’s research greenhouses harbors two layers of plants, cultivated on ‘flood tables’ stacked above each other. In total, more than 25.000 seedlings can be grown here, for studying both the genetic diversity and the phenotypical differences of those plants.

This greenhouse is equipped with the PlantEye sensor, which captures three dimensional and multispectral information of all these plants. Given the 3D nature of the images and the large number of plants that need to be screened, monitoring these plants generates vast amounts of data. Transforming data into information is time-consuming and requires significant expertise.

Marco van Schriek, one of KeyGene’s experts in digital plant phenotyping: “We are glad to have a state-of-the-art phenotyping data analysis ‘workhorse’ at our disposal, called HortControl. In our research, we can now find needles in haystacks and subsequently genetically typify those plants.”

“The haystacks can be any population of plants, such as progeny from a cross-breeding program, plants from a random mutagenesis project, or from a genome editing project. The combination of state-of-the-art hardware and software makes me confident that my research can significantly impact the disclosure and utilization of genetic diversity for more sustainable agriculture.”