School of Information Science and Technology, Hebei Agricultrual University, Baoding, Hebei, China.
State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation, Hebei Agricultrual University, Baoding, Hebei, China.
PeerJ. 2022 Jul 1;10:e13638. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13638. eCollection 2022.
Roots assist plants in absorbing water and nutrients from soil. Thus, they are vital to the survival of nearly all land plants, considering that plants cannot move to seek optimal environmental conditions. Crop species with optimal root system are essential for future food security and key to improving agricultural productivity and sustainability. Root systems can be improved and bred to acquire soil resources efficiently and effectively. This can also reduce adverse environmental impacts by decreasing the need for fertilization and fresh water. Therefore, there is a need to improve and breed crop cultivars with favorable root system. However, the lack of high-throughput root phenotyping tools for characterizing root traits is a barrier to breeding for root system improvement. In recent years, many breakthroughs in the measurement and analysis of roots in a root system have been made. Here, we describe the major advances in root image acquisition and analysis technologies and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Furthermore, we look forward to the future development direction and trend of root phenotyping methods. This review aims to aid researchers in choosing a more appropriate method for improving the root system.
根协助植物从土壤中吸收水分和养分。因此，考虑到植物不能移动以寻找最佳环境条件，根对于几乎所有陆生植物的生存都是至关重要的。具有最佳根系的作物品种对于未来的粮食安全至关重要，也是提高农业生产力和可持续性的关键。可以通过提高根系效率和有效性来改善和培育根系。这也可以减少对施肥和淡水的需求，从而减少对环境的不利影响。因此，需要改进和培育具有有利根系的作物品种。然而，缺乏高通量的根系表型分析工具来描述根系特性是根系改良培育的障碍。近年来，在根系中测量和分析根的方面取得了许多突破。在这里，我们描述了根系图像采集和分析技术的主要进展，并总结了每种方法的优缺点。此外，我们还展望了根表型分析方法的未来发展方向和趋势。本综述旨在帮助研究人员选择更合适的方法来改善根系。
