The root’s role in water uptake is essential; however, as they are below the surface, it is very challenging to continuously monitor them - especially by non-invasive methods.
By using soil-embedded sensors, which measure the soil moisture, temperature, and electrical conductivity, at the same time as other environmental signals and physiological parameters, the Plantarray phenotyping platform enables the quantitative evaluation of multiple functional traits, such as:
Root influx - The soil sensors continuously and precisely measure the rates at which water flows into the roots of each individual plant.
Drought critical point – The system allows identifying the critical point (Ɵcrit) at which soil water content becomes a limiting factor for plant transpiration under water stress.
The momentary balance between the plant's soil water influx and outflux (transpiration) provides the canopy relative water content (RWC) and its variation among the different studied plants and treatment conditions. The plant’s RWC is considered as a comparison benchmark the plant stress status.
Key benefits of using PlantDiTech's solution:
- Non-invasive measurement of root water influxes to identify the best performing roots
- Provides the draught and/or salinity critical point for plant performance
- Simultaneously control a wide range of soil and water scenarios (e.g. drought and/or salinity, chemicals)