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Automated estimation of tiller number in wheat by ribbon detection

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Abstract

The advent of high-throughput phenotyping installations signals a need for plant biology to use pattern analysis and recognition techniques, especially when analysis is done via digital images. Such installations also provide an opportunity to computer vision. We describe one such application at the UK National Plant Phenomics Centre, in which historically measurements have been made in a labour-intensive manual manner. We develop an estimator of tiller number in growing wheat which, when exploiting per-day averaging, temporal interpolation and dynamic programming, delivers measurements of finer-grain and no less accuracy than manually, and provides observations on plant treatments hitherto difficult or impossible to obtain. The approach developed lends itself to reuse for any similar imaging setup, and plants with tillering characteristics similar to wheat. We consider the work a useful exemplar for co-operation between biologists and computer scientists in such installations.

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Notes

  1. For example, having tiller number decrease in time; this is probably attributable to different, or inexperienced observers. Especially for very well-developed plants, hand counting of tillers is far from easy and may well be 1 or two out, depending on the observer’s convention.

  2. MATLAB is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC Grant ref numbers BB/J004405/1 and BB/J004464/1), the European Union (EPPN, an Integrating Activity, Research Infrastructure project funded by the European Union under FP7 Capacities Programme. Grant Agreement No. 284443) and the Biosciences, Environment and Agriculture Alliance (BEAA), a strategic partnership between Aberystwyth and Bangor universities. We are grateful to NPPC staff for technical support and constructive discussions.

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  1. National Plant Phenomics Centre, IBERS, Aberystwyth University, Plas Gogerddan, SY23 3EB, UK

    R. D. Boyle, F. M. K. Corke & J. H. Doonan

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  1. R. D. Boyle
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  2. F. M. K. Corke
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  3. J. H. Doonan
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Correspondence to R. D. Boyle.

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Boyle, R.D., Corke, F.M.K. & Doonan, J.H. Automated estimation of tiller number in wheat by ribbon detection. Machine Vision and Applications 27, 637–646 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00138-015-0719-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00138-015-0719-5

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