High-throughput digital image based phenotyping in crop plants

Digital Imagebased phenotyping in Predictive Breeding 

Digital image-based phenotyping is crucial for automating data collection in field plants, offering numerous advantages in precision agriculture and plant research. Here are the key reasons why it is important:

1. High-Throughput and Efficient Data Collection

• Traditional manual phenotyping is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
• Digital imaging enables rapid, large-scale data acquisition with minimal human intervention.

2. Non-Destructive and Continuous Monitoring

• Unlike traditional methods that may require destructive sampling, digital imaging allows repeated measurements over time.
• This helps track plant growth, health, and responses to environmental conditions without damaging crops.

3. Precision and Accuracy

• Advanced imaging techniques (e.g., hyperspectral, thermal, LiDAR) provide detailed and precise phenotypic data.
• These technologies reduce human errors and improve measurement consistency.

4. Scalability for Large Fields

• Digital image-based phenotyping can be deployed using drones, satellites, and ground-based sensors.
• This allows the monitoring of entire fields rather than just small sample areas.

5. Automation and AI Integration

• Machine learning and AI can analyze images to extract meaningful traits such as plant height, leaf area, disease symptoms, and biomass.
• Automated processing reduces human workload and speeds up decision-making.

6. Early Stress and Disease Detection

• Multispectral and thermal imaging can detect plant stress (e.g., drought, nutrient deficiencies, pests, and diseases) before visible symptoms appear.
• Early detection helps in timely intervention, improving crop yield and quality.

7. Cost-Effectiveness

• Although initial investments in imaging systems may be high, long-term benefits include reduced labor costs, increased efficiency, and improved crop management.

8. Supports Smart Agriculture and Precision Farming

• Digital imaging provides real-time data that can be integrated with IoT and precision farming technologies.
• This helps in optimizing irrigation, fertilization, and pest control strategies.

9. Enhances Genetic and Breeding Research

• Image-based phenotyping aids in evaluating genetic traits and breeding new crop varieties with improved resilience and productivity.
• High-throughput imaging accelerates breeding programs by providing rapid trait assessments.

10. Climate Adaptation and Sustainability

• Digital phenotyping helps study plant responses to climate variations, enabling better adaptation strategies.
• It supports sustainable agriculture by reducing input wastage and improving resource efficiency.

By integrating digital imaging with automation, AI, and robotics, plant phenotyping is becoming faster, more accurate, and highly scalable, transforming agriculture into a data-driven, precision-based field.

Would you like more details on specific imaging technologies or applications?

10 Aspects that tells how Farm Automation is Revolutionizing the Agriculture Productivity

         Farm Automation in modern era

       World population is expanding by time, it is reported that about 10 billion population will be expected at the year of 2050. Excessive colonization and population is demanding precision agriculture and smart farming to increase the productivity. Farm automation is in different forms which are discussed below:

1. Harvesting automation in fruits and vegetables are the problem solving steps to save the productivity and reduce the harvest loses like Agrobot and Abundant Robots are working on commercial robots for harvesting fruits in America.
2. Automated tractors is another important form of automation in farming that reduce labor cost and shorten the time duration especially in row farming. different companies like Rabbit Tractors and Bear Flag Robotics are working on driver less robot and programmed tractors for cultivation.
3. Robot for seeding are also commercialized in these days that can helpful in sowing various crops fast.
4. Farm automation through weeding robots that reduce herbicide application about 90% accurate at farm level. Some companies are also working on automated weedicide robots like Blue River Technology and ecoRobotix etc,.
5. Subsurface drip irrigation is another form of automatic irrigation at commercial farm level that reduce wastage of water and labor cost.
6. Planting from air drones are used for sowing and fertilization from the air in current era. Some companies are commercially preparing such as drones like Droneseed and Biocarbon.
7. Soil automated sensors are used to investigated and signal the farms about irrigation requirement of soil that ultimately enhance the yield e.g., CropX is a company that install soil sensor for the irrigation requirement etc. 
8. A harvester kit is also operated with harvester or combine with the tractor to harvest specific crop at huge area without driver operated operation. A company Autocart is offering this kit.
9. Compact tractors are prepared for the farm machinery for vineyard and gardens where compacted planting is done.
10. Obstacle detection technology is also fitted in automated tractors to identify the obstacle in farm  automated machinery.

               The above discussed technologies revolutionized the agriculture and enhanced the productivity about 100 times from the previous century. By subsidizing the agricultural farm automated machinery in underdeveloped and developing countries yield gap can be reduce. A huge yield gap is persisted in these countries can be reduce and enhance the productivity of agricultural commodities at world level.

Referral Links:

• https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com
• https://www.engineering.com
• https://www.agriculture.com/robots-on-the-rise
• https://asirobots.com/farming/

9 Modern Technologies that Uplift Livestock Productivity

                            Livestock Industry Revolution 

Livestock industry supports the country agriculture with social and economic benefits. The industry not only provide food balance nutrition to the population and also economic returns in the form of organic fertilizer, meat, eggs, and milk etc. By automated technologies 40-50% farm production is enhanced Livestock productivity enhanced through following modern technological ways:

1. Modern Technology, Connected Cow: In this technology sensors are used to detect the animal health, nutrition, milk production and pregnancy hormones etc. By fitting sensors to individual animals huge information can collect with less labor.  
2. Robotized barns: These are helpful to clean the environment from harmful gases like carbon dioxide and ammonia that directly improve the farm animals health.
3. Controlled traffic farming through biosensors and GPS(satellite) are used to monitor the farm animals in huge grasslands to monitor the farm animals and grazing habitat quality.
4.  Application of genetics, genomics, biotechnology and bioinformatics is greatly helping the animal breeding objective to enhance the meat and milk production of farm animals.
5. Connected automated cameras are helpful to monitor the farms at micro level to macro level that uplift the productivity.
6. Drones for monitoring the health and productivity of farm animals during grazing are widly use in current days.
7. Automated incubators are used at farm level to enhance the poultry that directly enhance the productivity of farms.
8. Climate controlled system through automated sensors and robots are used with the help of internet to monitor the farms are playing an important role for agriculture livestock production.
9. Image acquisition powered smart technologies are used to monitor the farm climate, animal health and expected economic returns from the farms.

Referral Sites for further readings:

• https://doi.org/10.1590/1234-56781806-94790053s01005
• https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/resources/livestock-farming-technology-animal-agriculture/#:~:text=Livestock%20Technology%20and%20the%20'Connected%20Cow'&text=Livestock%20technology%20can%20enhance%20or,monitor%20health%20and%20increase%20productivity.
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280223445_Modern_technologies_of_animal_production_and_their_sustainability
• http://www.biolyse.ca/technology-used-in-raising-livestock/
• https://www.intechopen.com/books/animal-husbandry-and-nutrition/the-innovative-techniques-in-animal-husbandry
• https://iowaagliteracy.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/5-ways-technology-has-changed-farming/

5 Automated platforms for Digital Image Phenotyping (The Era Of Phenomics) under controlled environment

5 Automated platforms for Digital Image Phenotyping (The Era Of Phenomics)

1. RGB color Imaging for Plant morphological trait measuring methodology in phenomics like colour, texture etc.
2. Lidar for 3D image technology for the phenotyping of plants.
3. Chlorophyll florescence imaging to determine phenotype during photosynthesis.
4. Thermal imaging for the sensing of temperature through digital imaging.
5. Hyper-spectral Imaging for the measuring the nutrient uptake efficiency of plants through phenomics.