High Throughput Field Phenotyping in Maize Under Drought Stress.

A primary goal of many plant science experiments is to associate genetic features with resulting phenotype. Advances in genotyping and molecular technologies have dramatically increased our ability to characterize lines genetically, leaving the acquisition of phenotypic data the more costly activity. This reality has led to many studies being conducted in limited or controlled environments; these are generally ineffective in characterizing the interaction of genotype with environment, the most important component of adaptation for crops under drought stress. Novel high-throughput phenotyping technologies are emerging that offer the potential to enrich the types and amounts of data that can be collected in field experiments. These, along with managed irrigation systems and improved statistical approaches, can provide the information to improve our understanding of gene function and the value of specific alleles for improving drought tolerance.