Leasyscan - a Novel Semi-Field Platform to Phenotype Traits Controlling Plant Water Budget.

We describe the concept and realisation of a high-throughput phenotyping platform (FieldScan­) combined with lysimetric capacity, to assess canopy traits affecting water use. The platform is based on a novel 3D sensor technology to capture canopy development, a sensor-to-plant concept to increase throughput (2500 plants/h), and analytical scales to combine gravimetric transpiration measurements. We present how the technology functions, how data are visualised via a web-based interface, and how data extraction and analysis is interfaced through ‘R’ libraries. Close agreement between scanned and observed leaf area data of individual plants in different crops was found (R2 between 0.86 and 0.94). Similar agreement was found when comparing scanned and observed area of plants cultivated at densities reflecting the field conditions. Example of the monitoring, the plant transpiration by the analytical scales is presented. Moreover we present some on-going applications of the platform to target key phenotypes: (i) the comparison of the leaf area development pattern of fine mapping recombinants of pearl millet; (ii) the leaf area development pattern of pearl millet breeding material targeted to different agro-ecological zones; (iii) the assessment of the transpiration response to high VPD in sorghum and pearl millet.