Image-Based, Organ-Level Plant Phenotyping for Wheat Improvement

Abstract

Wheat was one of the first grain crops domesticated by humans and remains among the major contributors to the global calorie and protein budget. The rapidly expanding world population demands further enhancement of yield and performance of wheat. Phenotypic information has historically been instrumental in wheat breeding for improved traits. In the last two decades, a steadily growing collection of tools and imaging software have given us the ability to quantify shoot, root, and seed traits with progressively increasing accuracy and throughput. This review discusses challenges and advancements in image analysis platforms for wheat phenotyping at the organ level. Perspectives on how these collective phenotypes can inform basic research on understanding wheat physiology and breeding for wheat improvement are also provided.